113 of the world’s most beautiful women touched down in Johannesburg today, with a warm African welcome from signers and dancers, for the start of the Miss World Festival culminating in a not-to-be-missed extravaganza at Gallagher Convention Centre on December 12 when one woman will be crowned Miss World 2009.
Also in the entourage is the reigning Miss World, (Russian) Kseniya Sukhinova, who will be handing over her title and many South Africans hoping that Tatum Keshwar will be in the running to take the crown.
Miss World is the benchmark for beauty across cultures. To date the most titles awarded to a country are India and Venezuela (5); United Kingdom (4); Iceland, Jamaica and Sweden (3) and South Africa joining seven other countries who have won the title twice.
The City of Gold will be hosting this spectacle for the second year running and will be showcasing its charms as well as those of the 113 represented countries.
The contestants have a busy month-long schedule before the finale. Jozi residents will be able to get a good look at the gorgeous contestants when the pay visits to various events across the city including trips to Soweto and Soccer City as well as the Johannesburg Zoo for the Miss World Children’s Christmas Party.
The full list of the 2009 Miss World contestants:
Albania: Armina Mevlani
Angola: Gercinalda da Silva
Argentina: Evelyn Manchon Albalat
Aruba: Nuraisa Lispier
Australia: Sophie Lavers
Austria: Anna Hammel
Bahamas: Joanna Brown
Barbados: Leah Marville
Belarus: Yuliya Sindzeyeva
Belgium: Zeynep Sever
Belize: Norma Lara
Bolivia: Flavia Foianini Arzabe
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Andrea Sarac
Botswana: Sumaiyah Marope
Brazil: Luciana De Souza Reis
Bulgaria: Antoniya Petrova
Canada: Yanbing Ma
China Pr: Sheng Yu
Colombia: Daniela Lalinde
Costa Rica: Angie Alfaro Loria
Cote D’ivoire: Dacoury Gnago
Croatia: Ivana Vasilj
Curacao: Chantalle Thomassen
Cyprus: Chrystalla Tsiali
Czech Republic: Aneta Vignerova
Denmark: Nadia Pedersen
Dominican Republic: Ana Contreras Sosa
Ecuador: Gabriela Ulloa Quinones
Egypt: Samah Ahmed Shalaby
El Salvador: Elena Tedesco
England: Katrina Hodge
Ethiopia: Lula Weldegebriel
Finland: Sanna Kankaanpaa
France: Chloe Mortaud
Georgia: Tsira Suknidze
Germany: Stefanie Peeck
Ghana: Comfort Appea
Gibraltar: Kaiane Aldorino
Greece: Alkisti Anyfanti
Guadeloupe: Beatrice Blaise
Guatemala: Alida Boer Reyes
Guyana: Kaierouann Radix
Honduras: Blaise Masey
Hong Kong China: Sin Ting Lau
Hungary: Orsolya Serdult
Iceland: Gudrun Runarsdottir
India: Pooja Chopra
Indonesia: Kerenina Halim
Ireland: Laura Patterson
Israel: Adi Rudnitzky
Italy: Alice Taticchi
Jamaica: Kerrie Baylis
Japan: Eruza Sasaki
Kazakhstan: Dina Nuraliyeva
Kenya: Fiona Konchellah
Korea: Joo Ri Kim
Latvia: Ieva Lase
Lebanon: Martine Andraos
Liberia: Shu-Rina Wiah
Lithuania: Vaida Petraskaite
Luxembourg: Diana Nilles
Macedonia FYRO: Suzana Al Salkini
Malaysia: Thanuja Ananthan
Malta: Shanel Debattista
Martinique: Ingrid Littre
Mauritius: Deanna Veerapatren
Mexico: Perla Beltran Acosta
Moldova: Maria Bragaru
Mongolia: Battsetseg Batbaatar
Montenegro: Marijana Pokrajac
Namibia: Namasiku Ntelamo
Nepal: Zenisha Moktan (Lama)
Netherlands: Avalon Weijzig
New Zealand: Magdalena Schoeman
Nigeria: Glory Chuku
Northern Ireland: Cherie Gardiner
Norway: Sara Skjoldnes
Panama: Nadege Herrera Vasquez
Paraguay: Tamara Sosa Zapattini
Peru: Claudia Carrasco Sarrio
Philippines: Marie Umali
Poland: Anna Jamroz
Portugal: Marta Ferreira Cadilha
Puerto Rico: Jennifer Colon Alvarado
Romania: Loredana Salanta
Russia: Kseniya Shipilova
Scotland: Katharine Brown
Serbia: Jelena Markovic
Sierra Leone: Mariatu Kargbo
Singapore: Pilar Arlando
Slovakia: Barbora Franekova
Slovenia: Tina Petelin
South Africa: Tatum Keshwar
Spain: Carmen Garcia Fernandez
Sri Lanka: Appukuttige Wijayadasa
Suriname: Zoureena Rijger
Swaziland: Nompilo Mncina
Sweden: Erica Harrison
Tahiti – French Polynesia: Nanihi Bambridge
Tanzania: Miriam Martin
Thailand: Pongchanok Kanklab
Trinidad & Tobago: Ashanna Arthur
Turkey: Ebru Sam
Uganda: Maria Namiiro
Ukraine: Ievgeniia Tulchevska
United States: Lisa-Marie Kohrs
Uruguay: Claudia Vanrell
Venezuela: Maria Veliz Pinto
Vietnam: Tran Thi Huong Giang
Wales: Lucy Whitehouse
Zambia: Dorothy Mumba
Zimbabwe: Vanessa Sibanda
It’s not only the City of Gold who will be exposed to their charms. They take an extensive nationwide tour including a visit to the Eastern Cape from November 16 to 18 where they will participate in the Miss World Sport Final before returning to Joahnnesburg for the Miss World World Talent Final on November 22. They travel to Kwa-Zulu Natal from November 23 to 25 for the Miss World Beach Beauty Final and then are back in Johannesburg for the Miss World Fashion final on 28 November.
Then the attention shifts to the Miss World contest itself – now in its 59th year –which is a live two hour broadcast on SABC 3 from Gallagher Estate starting at 17h00 on Saturday December 12.