Miss Grand Thailand, Engfa Waraha, scooped the best national costume prize at the Miss Grand International 2022 final in Indonesia yesterday. Unfortunately, the Thai beauty queen had to make do with the first runner-up prize in the overall competition after being edged out by Miss Grand Brazil, Isabella Menin, who was crowned Miss Grand International 2022.
Beauty queens from 72 countries around the world joined the final round of the Thai-franchised beauty contest at Sentul International Convention Center in Bogor Regency of West Java province in Indonesia.
Many beauty pageant fans agreed that the 26 year old Brazilian beauty deserved to wear the crown, commenting on her bright personality and education. Menin can speak five languages and finished her Master’s degree in finance at University College London.
As the beauty contest is a Thai-based project, Menin also spoke Thai in a part of her speech in the final round too.
The runners-up included:
1st runner-up: Engfa Waraha (Thailand)
2nd runner-up: Andina Julie (Indonesia)
3rd runner-up: Luiseth Materan (Venezuela)
4th runner-up: Mariana Beckova (Czech Republic)
Engfa may not have been crowned Miss Grand International 2022 but she made known that she still fulfilled many of her dreams competing in the competition, scooping the first runner-up and national costume prize.
The national costume of Miss Grand Thailand this year was inspired by the nation’s unique Muay Thai sport and the monkey character, Hanuman, from the Ramayana epic. See Engfa’s national costume here.
Thai netizens praised Engfa for her performance. Fans were also impressed with her speech on the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The young beauty queen was worried about her English speaking skills but delivered her point eloquently.
Engfa had huge support going into the contest as a former singer who participated in The Voice Thailand Season 7 in 2018.
Engfa has more than 2.6 million followers on Instagram @fa_engfa8, and her hashtag #อิงฟ้ามหาชน which means Engfa, the woman of the people is usually on top of the Thai Twitter too.
Meanwhile, Anne Jakrajutatip, a Thai billionaire transwoman, and the Chief Executive Officer of the JKN Global Group Public Company Limited took over the Miss Universe Organization yesterday following a US$20 million (760 million baht) investment in the franchise.
The Miss Universe headquarters and the team will remain in New York City, US, according to the legal conditions.