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Priyanka Chopra is Miss World 2000

Hot favourite Miss India Priyanka Chopra created history by winning the Miss World 2000 title outclassing 94 other contestants in London on Thursday night.

Miss Italy Giorgia Palmas and Miss Turkey Yuksel Ak were declared as the first and second runners up respectively.

At a scintillating pageant held at the Millennium Dome, 18-year old Priyanka emerged victorious despite an erroneous answer, mainly because of her poise, confidence and fluency in English.

With her victory, India has captured both the Miss Universe and Miss World titles as Lara Dutta has already bagged the Miss Universe crown.

With this, Priyanka and Lara Datta have emulated the example of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen who had won the Miss World and Miss Universe titles respectively in 1994.

Answering a question from Jerry Springer, the controversial American television personality, the host of the 150 minute show telecast live to two billion people in 150 countries, Priyanka said she considered Mother Teresa as the most successful woman for her compassion, love and for serving leprosy patients with a smile.

The question was, "Who do you consider to be the most successful woman living today and why?"

The judges overlooked the error mainly because of her other answers and the way she excelled over the others.

Outgoing Miss World Yukta Mookhey -- another Indian -- hugged and kissed Priyanka before handing over the crown.

Priyanka, a senior college student, said her ambition is to become a clinical physiologist. "I love Indian music and dancing comes naturally to me," she said.

She said she has joined classes for contemporary dance and could do the north Indian folk dance with gusto. "I write poetry although none of my work has been published except in school magazines," Priyanka who was 6 to 1 favourite at Ladbrokes, a well-known betting house, said.

The golden jubilee year of the beauty pageant was a special evening studded with the who's who from the music and fashion worlds, and with most of the previous Miss Worlds to mark the occasion.

India's first Miss World, Reita Faria Powell, graced the occasion along with Miss World 1952 May Louise Flodin of Sweden and an array of earlier Miss Worlds. Former Miss World Diana Hayden was present though another winner Aishwarya Rai was not.

The panel of judges included well-known figures from various walks of life, including Indian designer Hemant Trivedi.

Others from the fashion world included designers Amanda Wakely and Ozwald Boating, legendary figure Lulu, Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate, actress Stephanie Beacham, photographer Terry O'Neill and Lucy Sykes, fashion editor of Marie Claire.

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Priyanka Chopra is Miss World 2000

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