PRIDE OF SRI LANKA
The 25 year old lady from Anuradhapura was certainly the pride of our island nation for most of the month of May
She didn’t’ win the Miss World crown – and much to our surprise, Miss World Sri Lanka Anudi Gunasekara didn’t even make the cut of 40 for the grand finale on 31 May. Questions have been raised even from beyond our shores as to why her inspirational run through the early rounds wasn’t sufficient to win a place and compete on the night.
We will never know.
Having said that, she did make history… many times over!
Anudi won a place in Miss World’s top eight of the Multimedia Challenge, top 24 in the Talent Round and top five in the Head-to-Head Challenge (Asia).
It would be an understatement to say that she won the hearts of a nation of 22 million people and other pageant watches from across the seas, such was her graceful beauty and unique personality.
In a message posted on Facebook to her ‘fellow Sri Lankans’ on the morning of the finals, Anudi wrote: “I don’t even have the words to express how overwhelmed and grateful I am for the love, support and encouragement you’ve shown me. Every post, every comment, every kind message… I see them, I feel them and they mean the world to me.”
The 25 year old lady from Anuradhapura was certainly the pride of our island nation for most of the month of May – she was all over social media, by the hour at times – and following her exit, hundreds of thousands of followers shared their feelings of despair but maintained that Anudi was a winner.
Meanwhile, Miss World Sri Lanka posed this question on her FB page two mornings after: “To my beautiful Lanka. I hope I made you proud.”
We say ‘yes’ – without any reservations!
And as our Business Editor Tamara Rebeira writes in Living magazine’s exclusive June-August cover story, “her Miss World chapter may have ended but Anudi’s impact is only just beginning. As her thank you note to Sri Lankans said, she is ‘excited for what’s to come and ready for the next adventure’!”