Bangalore: Miss Tibet Beauty Contest has only one participant this year. To be held in Bangalore on Wednesday, the lone contestant would be crowned as Miss Tibet 2013.
The lone participant, from the US, would also get a cash prize of Rs.100,000 and the right to represent Tibet in international beauty pageants, said the organisers, adding that the coronation ceremony would be brief, lasting just around 45 minutes.
“We are proud and happy to announce that there will be a new Miss Tibet this year. We received only one application to be Miss Tibet by the Jan 15 deadline,” the pageant’s producer-director Lobsang Wangyal said in a statement.
Though only one had come forward to contest, he said, “Holding to the aims and objectives of the Miss Tibet pageant, it has been decided to crown the applicant. We deemed it important to respect her feelings and aspirations”.
Wangyal did not give any details about the lone applicant, except that she “is from the US and she has already reached India for the ceremony”.
“She was excited about the pageant, but after she was informed that there were no other applications she replied: “That is quite sad there won’t be a competition. I was looking forward to a fun competition.”
Outgoing Miss Tibet Tenzin Yangkyi would crown the new Miss Tibet.
“We dedicate the new Miss Tibet to the Tibetan heroes who sacrificed themselves because of their love for freedom in Tibet. Nearly 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009,” Wangyal said.
This is the first time the pageant is being held outside Dharmashala, the home of Tibetan leader Dalai Lama.
“The pageant has been held for ten consecutive years in Dharamshala ever since it was started in 2002. Since most of the Tibetans in exile live in south India, it was deemed important to bring the pageant there so that people there can share and experience this one of the most awaited Tibetan events,” Wangyal said.
The event was to be held for three days from Feb 10 at Bylakuppe, the largest Tibetan settlement in the country, near Mysore, about 220 km from Bangalore.
However, now the pageant would now be just a crowning ceremony in Bangalore.
Miss Tibet 2013 is the 11th in the series. It was not held last yearbecause of the intense unrest in Tibet.