WEB DESK
India’s Harnaaz Sandhu has been crowned Miss Universe 2021, two decades after Lara Dutta won the title in 2000. 21-year-old Harnaaz has won the Miss Universe crown at the contest held in Eilat, Israel on Monday morning. Harnaaz edged out contestants from Paraguay and South Africa to bag the crown.
The moment her name was declared as the winner, Harnaaz broke down with tears of joy. She could also be seen joining her hands in gratitude.
Mexico’s Andrea Meza, the reigning queen, passed on her crown to the new successor. India had earlier won the coveted crown twice with Sushmita Sen bagging the title in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000. The 21-year-old Harnaaz, hailing from Chandigarh, has now joined the league of these incredible women.
The new Miss Universe, who’s done her BA (IT) from PG Govt College Chandigarh and is currently pursuing Masters in Public Administration, has her family firmly behind her.
“I am very happy and proud. We are waiting for her to give her a grand party. She has made the whole country proud. Bhangra pavan ge!” Mother Rabinder Kaur Sandhu, a medical officer at a hospital in Sohana, said she can’t put her joy into words.
“I’m super excited,” she says. “She wanted to go into the judiciary and had into a university but changed her mind.”
From horse-riding, singing, cooking, to poetry and theatre, her accomplishments are endless, and her family can’t stop gushing about her.
“She’s a confident, down-to-earth person from a middle-class family. Beauty pageants and the glamour industry have always excited her and she was focused on her goal. We have never stopped her,” her mother adds proudly.