Miss Dominican Republic Crowned Miss Universe 2003

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Miss Dominican Republic Crowned Miss Universe 2003

Miss Dominican Republic, Amelia Vega, has won the Miss Universe 2003 title in Panama City. Vega, an 18-year-old high school student, won the title at a sparkling ceremony in Panama City on Tuesday night, beating a field of 70 other pageant queens with her charm and charisma.

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Amelia Vega, a second-generation beauty queen from the Dominican Republic, was crowned Miss Universe 2003 on Tuesday night.

Vega, 6-foot-1, smiled and waved to the crowd as outgoing titleholder Justine Pasek of Panama slipped the crown on the head during a ceremony at U.S. military base-turned-convention center in Panama.

Vega is the niece of famed merengue singer Juan Luis Guerra and the daughter of her country's representative in the 1980 Miss World pageant.

She said she too hopes to be a singer. In an entry statement to the organizing committee, she said that "music is a direct way to communicate with all the people without any race or ideological differences."

The first runner up was Miss Venezuela, the Cinderella of the contest: 22-year-old Mariangel Ruiz almost couldn't come to the competition because of financial problems in her home country. A donor finally turned up to meet the costs of her trip.

Second-runner up was South Africa's Cindy Nell, 21, a tourism promoter.

Miss Serbia and Montenegro, Sanja Papic, was third runner up and Miss Japan, Miyako Miyzaki, was fourth.

The show opened with the 72 contestants, in colorful tropical skirts and tops, introducing themselves before colonial-era buildings on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal.

The contest drew an estimated 600 million television viewers as well as nearly 7,000 Panamanians in formal wear to the new Figali Convention Center, which was recently built at the old Fort Amador, one of several military bases the United States had here as part of its Canal Zone enclave for decades.

The event gave Panama a few minutes of prime time to promote itself as a new tourist destination after decades of living under the shadow of the U.S. military, which left the country and handed over the canal on December 31, 1999.

Source: Agencies

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