Published on May 30, 2005

Miss Thailand gets the ‘Nod’ from the public, according to a Suan Dusit poll

Thais are pa-triotic when it comes to their choice of beauty queen, with a poll suggesting that the majority believe Miss Thailand Chananporn “Nod” Ros-jan has the goods to take the Miss Universe crown.

They also believe that the Thai beauty queen deserved the Best Na-tional Costume award, despite the issue of impartiality among of the judges.

A Suan Dusit poll released yesterday found that more than half of the 1,505 people surveyed supported Miss Thailand Universe. The second favourite is Miss Puerto Rico Cynthia Olavarria, who received 20.34 per cent support from those polled.

Miss Venezuela Moni-ca Spear was the third choice third with 13.56 per cent support; with Miss Canada Natalie Glebova fourth at 6.47 per cent; and Miss Japan Yukari Kuzuya fifth with 3.39 per cent support from those surveyed.

Of these favourites, only two match the ones favoured by the English bookmakers Ladbrokes, which has Miss Canada favourite for the Miss Uni- verse crown.

Miss Puerto Rico is the second favourite, while Miss Dominican Republic Renata Sone is third. Ladbrokes is offering the generous odds of 40-1 for Miss Thailand to win the title. Miss Canada won the Miss Photogenic title on www.globalbeauties.com, which features extensive coverage of Miss Uni-verse.

Last year the website picked Miss Australia Jennifer Hawkins as Miss Photogenic. She was later crowned Miss Universe.

Globalbeauties.com named Miss Greece Evangelia Aravani as the second-most photogenic beauty queen, and Miss South Africa Claudia Henkel was third.

Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Dominican Republic are joint favourites with Australian bookmakers Centrebet, followed by Miss Canada, and Miss South Africa.

But although Miss Thailand may not be a strong candidate in the eyes of the local and foreign media, many Thais still hope to see their beauty queen reach the final five- round.

According to the survey, about 41 per cent said that the country’s representative should make it to the final five as her qualities suit the title.

The poll was carried out between May26 and 29 with 567 men and 938 women surveyed.

The final of the Miss Universe beauty pageant will be held tomorrow morning.

Almost 52 per cent of the respondents to the Suan Dusit survey said that they would be watching the live broadcast on Channel 7. The programme will be broadcast in more than 125 countries, reaching hundreds of millions of viewers.

The majority of respondents said that they believed Thailand would receive an image boost from hosting the pageant. They also said they believed the event was well organised and presented.

A total of 9 per cent said that the publicity and the organisation of the event had been poor and that the standards were not up to an international level.

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