Harnaaz Sandhu gets nostalgic on the anniversary of her Miss Universe win: ‘I prayed every moment’

Congratulations @HarnaazSandhu03 !!!! Welcome to the club!!! We’ve waited 21 long years for this!!! You make us SO SO proud!!! A billion dreams come true!!! @MissDivaOrg @MissUniverse

— Lara Dutta Bhupathi (@LaraDutta) December 13, 2021

On the anniversary of her win, the Chandigarh-born model and actor — who was declared the winner of the 70th edition of the beauty pageant held in Eilat, Israel — got nostalgic. She took to Instagram to share the winning moment in a video montage that also featured some snippets from her journey.

In the caption, the 22-year-old wrote, “While being on stage, I prayed every moment to make my country proud in the best way possible. I don’t look back when I recall these memories. But, I look forward to creating more and couldn’t have asked to start my dreams this way with all of you loving and supporting me.”

 

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A post shared by Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (@harnaazsandhu_03)

She added, “Thank you to the kind souls who have showered so much love, support and faith in me. I’m grateful today and forever. There’s so much more to come and it’s not going to be easy. But for now… Thank you Universe.”

The official Miss Universe Instagram account also shared a video of the exact moment that the crown came home, when the two finalists holding hands seconds before the winner was announced were India’s Harnaaz and Miss Paraguay Nadia Ferreira. “ONE YEAR AGO! Happy anniversary @harnaazsandhu_03,” read the caption.

 

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A few days after her victory, the pageant winner had told indianexpress.com over the phone that she had “literally prayed for the crown”. “It is not only about being Miss Universe, but also about having the responsibility to bring a change in your society. Before I started my journey, I wanted to take the blessings of the crown.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, she added that she was “confused with [her] thoughts, thinking, ‘What if they declare India [as the winner], what if they don’t?'”

 

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A post shared by Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (@harnaazsandhu_03)

“I was waiting for Steve [Harvey] to say ‘India’, and when he did, I got emotional,” Harnaaz said.

Fashion designer Saisha Shinde had designed her finale gown, about whom she had said, “Saisha is a wonderful woman. I am thankful that she effortlessly worked on that gown. She listened to me and devoted her time to this.”

 

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A post shared by Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (@harnaazsandhu_03)

She had also said that she “always looked up to” beauty pageant winners Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra. “I never wanted to copy them, but I expected to learn from their experiences. However, at 17, when I was in college, I realised this is something I love doing. That I want to be an inspiration for young women around the world, do something in life and become unstoppable.”

Harnaaz will crown the next Miss Universe winner in New Orleans, Louisiana at the 71st Miss Universe pageant that will reportedly take place on January 14, 2023.

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