Ganiel Akrisha Krishnan guns for PH’s 5th Miss Asia Pacific crown

Ganiel Akrisha Krishnan guns for PH’s 5th Miss Asia Pacific crown
By JAY PATAO

REIGNING Mutya ng Pilipinas-Asia Pacific International Ganiel Akrisha Atun Krishnan will be the host delegate for 50 other beauties who will arrive in Manila second week of November for the revived Miss Asia Pacific International Pageant, which has been in hiatus for more than a decade.

Ganiel, 22, from San Andres, Manila, was crowned as Mutya ng Pilipinas 2016 last July and earned the right to vie for the oldest international pageant in Asia that was launched in 1968 as Miss Asia Quest that gathered beauties from the Middle East to the Far East including Oceania.

A sportscaster (for the FEU Tamaraws in UAAP) and Star Magic talent, Ganiel is excited on her forthcoming pageant. “What excites me is meeting the ladies from different countries and cultures. Miss Asia Pacific International is not a pageant of not just beautiful faces and figures but beautiful hearts and minds as well.”

The annual Miss Asia Quest was expanded in 1984 to include Pacific-rim countries in the Americas as well, hence, the title was renamed Miss Asia Pacific. In 2004, the pageant went global to include contestants from Europe, Africa and other countries outside the boundaries of the tilt, and so it was re-branded as Miss Asia Pacific International.

To date, the Philippines is the most successful country in the pageant, having won four times: Maria del Carmen Ines “Carines” Zaragoza in 1982, Gloria “Bong” Aranas Dimayacyac in 1983, Lorna Villarubia Legaspi in 1989 and Michelle Zulueta Aldana in 1993.

With 3 winners each are India, Australia, South Korea and Thailand. With two titleholders each are Turkey, Israel, Costa Rica, Peru and Russia. Taiwan, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Panama and Colombia each have one winner.

The 50 delegates will be officially presented to members of media at the Manila Pavilion Hotel on November 17, followed by the national costume competition later that day. The talent competition will be held at Villamor Golf Club in Pasay City on November 18.

The grand coronation night,to be aired by GMA and Star World, will be held at Sheridan Beach Resort and Spa in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on November 23.