Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism Queen 2012 will help promote tourism

By Anuradha KODAGODA

Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism Queen 2012 is not just another beauty pageant in the country, but it is the most promising beauty pageant which we hope to hold the final round in mid June, said the charming internationally recognised model, Wasana Dhanthanarayana.

"I'm the franchise holder for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism Queen and Mrs Sri Lanka for Mrs Asia International, Mrs Classic, Model of the World and International model of the year beauty pageants for Sri Lanka.

"We only could start these beauty pageants in Sri Lanka since last year, even though we organised them in a really tight situation, we were able to send Pushpika de Silva to Shiyan China and in the competition she was able to win the best national costume award. There were 98 countries who participated in this particular beauty pageant and Sri Lanka was selected to the top 20 countries and Sri Lanka held No 13 in that competition. In addition to that two models participated in the Model of the World 2011 competition which was held in Bulgaria last year. The two models were Nalinda Sampath and Piyumi Sudeshika.

"In that competition Nalinda Sampath won the Best National Costume award by competing with 68 countries. These models were trained under the fashion and model academy which is run by myself and these models were sponsored by R & V Entertainments which is owned by me and my husband. It is a great privilege to win international awards and also there are so many great opportunities that have already opened up for the Sri Lankan beauties who participate in these international events," Wasana said.

"Therefore, by identifying the potential that our Sri Lankan young beauties hold, we have organised this year's Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism Queen and Mrs Sri Lanka for Mrs Asia International beauty pageants and the inauguration and the first selections will be held on May 20, 2012 at Galadari Hotel Colombo. The age limit for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism Queen is between 18 to 26 years and the second title Mrs Sri Lanka for Mrs Asia International would be 30 to 50 years. Out of the selected competitors we are planning to hold all the mini titles on June 2, 2012 at Galadari Hotel Colombo. There are four mini titles that we have organised named Miss and Mrs Photogenic, Miss & Mrs Personality, Miss and Mrs Skin and Body Beautiful and Miss & Mrs Talent," she further added.

The official costume designer of these two pageants is Michael Wijesuriya, the official saloon partner is Ramani Fernando Saloon, the official photographer is Gihan de Silva. Hotel Galadari would be the official hotel partner of the event and the official floral would be the Nethma Flora.

"We hope to hold the grand finale of the event on June 8, 2012 at Galadari hotel. We hope to organise the entire event in a different theme and also this time we hope to give a special place for Sri Lankan handlooms. Therefore Michael Wijesuriya who is the costume designer of the event will design special costumes for the contestants who will be selected for the grand finale for the two beauty pageants. This particular segment will be sponsored by Western Province Craft Lanka Pvt Ltd".

"The main loophole that I realise in most of the beauty contests which is held in the country is that many are not directly connected with international pageants. For me it is useless when such a talented young youth who participate in these events lose their confidence and is disappointed about the whole process. However, I have been lucky to be the franchise holder for a few international beauty pageants and my ultimate objective is to promote Sri Lankan beauties also to the international level and prove that we too have the ability to compete according to the international standards. On the other hand these kind of international beauty pageants also would be a great tool to promote tourism in the country. Therefore, through R&V Entertainments we do our level best to promote young talented beauties to the international level and gain international attention for our country," she said.