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Miss India 2018 Winner Anukreethy Vas (Tamil Nadu) with Haryana's Meenakshi Chaudhary (1st Runner up) and Andhra Pradesh's Shreya Rao (2nd Runner up) after being crowned during Miss India 2018 pageant, in Mumbai on late Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (PTI Photo) [/caption]
Overjoyed over being crowed as the fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2018, Anukreethy Vas has already set her eyes on Miss World competition and says she will try her best to keep the title home.
Anukreethy, a 19-year-old college student from Tamil Nadu, was crowned Miss India in a ceremony here last evening.
"I still can't believe that it happened. I've been dreaming for it since so long. There were never any bad days for me because I didn't think about losing or wining. I just wanted to live in the moment. I've waited everyday to touch this crown and now it's with me," Anukreethy told PTI.
The winner says there is no time to sit back and relax as she had already set her eyes on the next goal- to keep the Miss World crown in country, which was won by Manushi Chillar last year.
"After 17 years, Manushi has brought the crown to India and I would never want that to go away. I am looking forward to keeping it in India."
Meenakshi Chaudhary, 21, from Harayana was declared the first runner-up while Andhra Pradesh's Shrey Rao Kamvarapu, 23, stood as the second runner-up in the beauty competition.
Anukreethy says she decided to participate in a beauty pageant competition after she saw Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on TV as the Miss World winner.
"When I saw Aishwarya Rai on TV (getting crowned), I started thinking about how one gets to be there. That's how it started. I always wanted a platform to share my views and be a great influence on life."
Post her win, she is looking forward to going back home, as "it's a proud moment for me because it's the first time Tamil Nadu has won Miss India."
"I give 100 per cent credit to my mom for pushing me. I am a confident woman today because she has the strongest personality and she has brought me up like that," she said.
The ceremony was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar and Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana and saw performances by Bollywood stars like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jacqueline Farnandez and Madhuri Dixit, and also by Miss World 2017 Manushi Chillar.
The judges panel included names of cricketers -- K L Rahul and Irfan Pathan -- actors Bobby Deol, Malaika Arora and Kunal Kapoor.
PTI