India's Parvathy Omanakuttan narrowly missed out on winning the Miss World 2008 crown which went to Russia's Ksenya Sukhinova at a glittering African extravaganza held in Johannesburg on Saturday.
"Miss World 2008 is Russia," announced Julia Morley, head of the Miss World committee that organises the event.
Twenty one-year-old Parvathy, who hails from Kottayam in Kerala, finished first runner up and failed to join five Indian glamour queens Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan (1994), Diana Hayden (1997), Yukta Mookhey (1999) and Priyanka Chopra (2000) who had won the title.
This was the first time in eight years that an Indian reached the finals of the Miss World competition.
Parvathy, who had won this year's Miss Femina contest in April, said she was happy that she could go this far in the contest but was disappointed a little at not having won the crown.
"I had expected that I will win. But there is a little disappointment. After many years, India reached the top five. It's been eight years since an Indian has reached the finals of Miss World contest and this makes me happy," Parvathy said.
"But I cannot say that I'm very happy as I had expected to win. I'm a little disappointed. But it is said that destiny has a big role to play in one's life and God might have something better in stock for me," the Kerala girl told NDTV.
The second runner up was Gabriel Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago. More than 100 international beauties participated in this year's Miss World pageant hosted by South Africa.