Lesego Chombo from Botswana (right) and newly-crowned Miss World Krystyna Pyszkova/MISSOSOLOGY FACEBOOK PHOTO
Shortly after Miss World 2024 host, Philippines’ Megan Young drew flak for supposedly invading her personal space, Miss Botswana Lesego Chombo appeared to have moved on from the incident and even congratulated the winner, Krystyna Pyszkova of Miss Czech Republic.
Chombo, who finished in the Top 4 of the recently-concluded 71st Miss World Festival, fielded online tirades from her followers and fellowmen who believed that she should have won the crown instead.
“Congratulations to the 71st Miss World [Pyszkova] [stars emoji] I wish you a life-changing and impactful reign as you represent the [111] ladies who joined you on that stage last night [red heart emoji],” the Botswana beauty posted on Instagram.
Many netizens of Botswana noted that Chombo should have inherited the “blue crown” from last edition’s winner Karolina Bielawska instead of the Czech beauty based on the performances delivered by the two contenders in the final round.
Some of her followers also hurled tirades on the Miss World Organization (MWO), citing the results that did not go in their favor. But Chombo already expressed her gratitude for the London-based organizer.
Saying “my cup overloads,” the Motswana beauty thanked MWO “for trusting me to light candles of hope and service across Africa and the world. May lives forever be changed by the work we do under Beauty with a Purpose. May the world be filled with light and hope for the betterment of humanity [stars emoji].”
Chombo earlier got caught in the middle of the online assault by her followers on Filipino Miss World winner Megan Young, who hosted the finale show held at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai, India, on March 9.
Young was accused of witchcraft, and even sabotaging Chombo’s chances of winning by fixing the Motswana candidate’s hair and making it appear as though she needed something to fix on herself in front of the judges. Many African netizens also pointed out how culturally insensitive the Filipino’s gesture was for touching the contestant’s hair.
“Batho bame (good people), I appreciate that you are all looking out for me, but it really doesn’t make me feel good when you bring other people down in my name or for my sake,” Chombo posted on her page. The statement was a response to the backlash the Filipino queen received for fixing the hair of the Motswana beauty during the final round of the competition.
“Please be kinder, please [red heart emoji] to [newly-crowned Miss World] Krystina Pyszkova, to Megan, be kinder,” Chombo continued on her post.
To date, Young remains to be the lone Filipino woman to be proclaimed Miss World. She won in the contest’s 63rd edition held in Indonesia in 2013. Gwendolyne Fourniol, the country’s representative in the most recent competition, missed the first cut.
The 71st Miss World Festival was held two years since the staging of the previous edition. Before that, the last installment was presented in 2019. No pageant was held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the 70th competition was initially started in late 2021. The most recent contest was originally scheduled for late 2022, but the organization made several postponements, and announced different host venues.
The Miss World Philippines Organization also announced that the 2024 national competition will be underway, two years since Fourniol earned the title. No further details have been released as of this writing.