Miss Friendship International 2019 kicks off in Chengdu, China
July 20, Chengdu, China
by Tamara Almeida
Miss Friendship International is back, and what better city to host it than Chegdu, China, a place where people are so hospitable and always smiling? The candidates have arrived here on Thursday, and ever since, things have been intense, with lots of activities and preliminary events taking place. With exclusivity, we bring you now a summary of what´s been going on behind the scenes and in front of the cameras in excting and friendly Chengdu! Ladies and gentlemen, it´s Miss Friendship International 2019 just begining!
* The official opening ceremony, with the presence of local authorities and the pageant producers, took place after the 60 candidates pareded in their national costumes on open buses, greeting the people of Chengdu. The ceremony happened at the beautiful Fengxiang Lake Park.
* Organizers chose one representative per continent to speak to the crowd during the official pageant launching. China spoke for Asia, Russia for Europe, Brazil for the Americas.
* Mr. Jelly, Miss Friendship International´s director, spoke expressing his satisfaction on having Chengdu and China as hosts for this year´s edition. He made it clear that Miss Friendship International aims to promote good will among nations, in addition to promoting Chengdu and China´s rich culture and economy. Beautiful and elegant Ms. Nahatai, the vice-director, has also spoken to the public and press journalists about how happy she is to see Miss Friendship back and in great style, after 8 years.
* During the fancy Welcome Dinner, the talent competition took place. 23 candidates competed, and Miss Friendship Serbia, Emilia Dobreva, was the winner with her cha-cha amazing performance! Ukraine, Ksenia Tkhorzhevska, placed 2nd, followed by Hong Kong-China, Doris Wong, in 3rd. It all happened at the Chuan Tou International Hotel.
* Italy has two representatives, Gaia and Giorgia Sambucci. And guess what? They are twins! The Italian judges could not decide between the two, so both are here representing Italy. Now try to imagine: what if both win the Miss Friendship title? Will we have two Misses Friendship 2019? It would be a first in pageantry!
The winner will be crowned on July 27th and Global Beauties will bring you daily updated on the competition. Stay tuned!
About GB´s correspondent Tamara Almeida: Tamara was Miss Brazil World 2008 and a semi-finalist in Miss World 2008, in South Africa. In 2007, she represented the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha in Miss Tourism Queen International, in China, ranking 3rd. The year before, in Colombia, she was the 1st runner-up to Miss Maja International. A Ford model, television presenter and journalist, currently she co-writes a column at R7 news portal, the 2nd most read in Brazil, with GB´s own Henrique Fontes. As a GB correspondent, Tamara has traveled to Portugal and Poland in the past, covering Miss Portuguesa and Miss Supranational 2017.