Fewer quarterfinalsts, finalists at the 72nd Miss World finale in India

Reigning Miss World Krystyna Pyszzkova (left) and Miss World Philippines Krishnah Gravidez/ARMIN P. ADINA

Out of more than 100 aspirants for the Miss World crown, only three ladies will battle it out in the final round of competition, the international organization revealed.

At a press conference held in Hyderabad, capital city of the southern state of Telangana in India, earlier this week, the Miss World Organization (MWO) announced the several rounds of elimination, and how many ladies will be chosen in each segment.

From the initial roster of 108 delegates from different countries and territories around the world, only 25 will move to the next round of competition that will be announced at the finale show.

In the three previous editions of the Miss World pageant, 40 ladies survived the first cut. The 2018 competition, meanwhile, had 30 quarterfinalists.

For the 2025 contest, the Top 25 will then be trimmed to 12. They will then compete for spots in the Top 6. The final cut will see only three ladies competing for the crown, with the two ladies edged out of the title receiving runner-up spots.

In the previous editions, six ladies were called to the final round, where one winner and two runners-up emerged. Last year, representatives from four continental divisions comprised the finalists, with only one runner-up proclaimed.

When Megan Young scored the Philippines’ first, and so far only, Miss World victory in 2013 in Indonesia, there were six finalists. Two runners-up had already been called and she held hands with three other ladies before she was announced as the winner.

This year, the Miss World pageant is holding its 72nd edition, with India hosting it for the second year in a row. The South Asian country first mounted the international competition in 1996.

Telangana’s hosting of the 72nd Miss World “Festival” was announced in February, with the complete calendar of activities for May released in March. However, tension erupted in the India-Pakistan border on Tuesday evening, May 6, just as the delegates were starting to arrive.

The Miss World Organization still has not released any statement regarding its host country’s retaliatory missile attack on a Pakistani-controlled area in the Kashmir region up north, and the brewing tensiion between the neighbors.

The final competition show of the 72nd Miss World pageant will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention and Exhibition Center (HITEX) in Hyderabad on May 31. Krishnah Gravidez is representing the Philippines.  /ra