Miss World crowned

Miss World 2006, Tatana Kucharova from the Czech Republic, is congratulated by Australia's Sabrina Houssami. Picture / Reuters

WARSAW - Miss Czech Republic took the Miss World crown today in Poland's capital Warsaw, the first city in ex-communist East Europe to host the pageant.

Tatana Kucharova, a blue-eyed blonde wearing a tight-fitting white gown, fought back tears as the Miss World sash was draped over her shoulder and a glittering crown placed on her head.

Kucharova blew kisses to the crowd and hugged her competitors, 103 women from five continents, but made no comments.

The two-hour pageant was held in Warsaw's Palace of Culture, a skyscraper built as a gift by Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union, spruced up with red carpets, flowers and floodlights.

Seventeen-year-old Miss Romania, Ioana Valentina Boitor, was first runner-up.

In keeping with its conversion to capitalism, Poland is aiming to cash in on Miss World, billed as television's most watched event. A think tank calculated exposure from the pageant would help draw 5 million extra tourists to the country by 2010.

Miss Australia, Sabrina Houssami, was second runner-up.

Feminists dismiss Miss World, founded in 1951, as a sexist "cattle show", yet organisers expected more than 2 billion people in 200 countries to tune in.

Miss World moved to Warsaw after three years in the southern Chinese resort Island of Hainan.

To keep the pageant's image wholesome, artists drew a sash over Warsaw's city symbol, a half naked mermaid, to conceal her breasts in promotional posters.

Kucharova is the third Eastern European to win the Miss World crown. The first, Poland's Aneta Beata Kreglicka, was one of three moderators at the Palace of Culture on Saturday.

- REUTERS