Wins crown on home turf

BAYAMON (Puerto Rico), MAY 12. Boosted by a hometown advantage, Miss Puerto Rico, Denise Quinones August, won this year's Miss Universe crown, with Miss India, Celina Jaitley, finishing as fourth runner-up. When the sparkling crown was placed on her head last night, Ms. Quinones, one of the few women in the history of the contest to win the title at home, beamed and blew kisses to a crowd of thousands that applauded her victory.

Miss Greece, Evelina Papantoniou (22), Miss USA, Kandace Krueger (24), and Miss Venezuela, Eva Ekvall (18), were the first, second and the third runners-up in the multi-stage contest that attracted women from 77 countries.

``I can't believe it,'' said Ms. Quinones, wearing a white evening gown with a plunging neckline. ``I just felt really confident and that projected''.

Fourteen Latin American women have won the crown. Ms. Quinones becomes the 15Th, and the fourth Puerto Rican. The Singer, Mr. Marc Anthony, a judge with Puerto Rican roots, said it was hard to pick a winner. Other judges included the 1993 Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres Muniz, also of Puerto Rico, and Kel Gleason, a contestant on the TV show Survivor: The Australian Outback.

``(Quinones) had all the qualities that they told us to look out for,'' Mr. Anthony said. ``It was really tough though''.

Ms. Quinones made headlines when she dressed up as a fighting cock for informal costume contest last week. The bloody sport is widely popular in Latin American countries.

Organizers said Ms. Quinones would be whisked away to New York later today to start her new life as Miss Universe.

'Home crowd helped'

At a post-contest news conference where local journalists greeted Ms. Quinones with whoops of triumph, the winner, who is from Lares, a small town in northwest Puerto Rico, said the home crowd had helped set her at ease and give her confidence.

- AP, Reuters

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