Meet Shree Saini; first Indian-American woman from Punjab to win Miss World America

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, December 17

Miss World 2021 has temporarily postponed the global broadcast finale that was to be held Friday at 4.15 am IST in Puerto Rico due to health and safety interests of contestants, staff, crew and general public.

Earlier, Shree Saini, the first Asian to be crowned Miss World America, was selected as Top 6 “Beauty with a Purpose” service project volunteer and Top 30 @missworld official semi-finals.

Inspite of having many challenges in her life, including a debilitating incident that gave her severe burns and forced her to get a pacemaker, she excelled.

Saini was born on January 6, 1996 in Ludhiana and has lived in the United States since the age of five. For the first 12 years of her life, while growing up her heartbeat had an average of just 20 beats per minute.

“At Miss World, I believe I am not only representing myself but I am also representing 333 million Americans and 3.5 billion Indians, including Indians outside of India,” she said.

The finale will be rescheduled at Puerto Rico Coliseum Jose Miguel Agrelot within the next 90 days. Manasa Varanasi will represent India at the 70th Miss World pageant.

Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica, the current Miss Universe, will crown the new winner.

After meeting with the virologists and medical experts hired to oversee the Miss World 2021 event and discussing with the Puerto Rico Health Department, the decision has been made by the organisers of the event to postpone the globally broadcast finale at the Puerto Rico Coliseum Jose Miguel Agrelot to be held within the next 90 days.

As of yesterday, additional safety measures were implemented in the best interest of the contestants, production team and spectators, understanding the event increased risks on the stage and in the dressing room. However, after additional positive cases were confirmed this morning after consulting with health officials and experts, the postponement decision was made.

The next step according to the medical experts is immediate quarantine, pending observation and further testing according to best practices in situations like this. Once and only when contestants and staff are cleared by health officials and advisors, will contestants and related staff return to their home countries.

“We are very much looking forward to the return of our contestants, (who we have grown to know and love), to compete for the Miss World crown” said Julia Morley, CEO of Miss World Ltd. Puerto Rico offers a safe environment and a spectacular backdrop for filming the Miss World Festival.”