Tel Aviv (dpa) – Miss India, 21-year-old actress Harnaaz Sandhu, was crowned Miss Universe early Monday in a live show in the Israeli coastal city of Eilat on the Red Sea.
Sandhu prevailed against 79 competitors from countries around the world.
In a profile on the pageant website, Harnaaz is described as “a strong advocate for women’s empowerment, particularly their constitutional rights to education, careers, and their freedom of choice.”
It was the 70th Miss Universe pageant. The event began at 3 am (0100 GMT) to be broadcast live in prime time on US television.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, only viewers with a “green pass,” showing they had either recovered from the coronavirus or had been vaccinated in the last six months, could be present at the show.
In May, then 26-year-old Andrea Meza from Mexico won the title of Miss Universe 2020 in the US state of Florida.
The competition had been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic from the previous year.
