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Zimbabwe’s dream of seeing the leggy model on the ramp crumbled after she failed to find yet another stride in the fast-track challenge events after the Miss Beach World results were announced on Thursday evening.
The Miss World finals will be beamed today live from the Fitness Stadium, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, as from 7.30pm Chinese time. Zimbabwe is six hours behind China.
During the run-up to the final competition, there are a number of fast-track challenge events that allow contestants to earn points towards the final scoreboard.
These challenge events are also used to assess the final beauty queen, before the day of the big event.
The Miss World competition rules state that, for a contestant to make it into the top 50 of the final, she has to gain considerable marks in the fast-track challenge events.
According to the Miss World website, a total of 116 countries will be part of the spectacular ceremony.
“A world record 116 nations will enter the Ordos Stadium Arena in a spectacular choreographed opening.
“Miss World 2012 will be broadcast live from Ordos, Inner Mongolia to an audience in excess of one billion viewers in over 160 countries,” reads a statement on the website.
So far, Bongani’s dream of making it into the top 50 has been shattered after she failed to gain a single point in five of the fast-track challenge events.
It appears Bongani has found the going tough at the Miss World finals, as she has struggled to impress the judges and failing to score a single mark in all categories held so far.
Fast-track challenge events are the Designer Award, Beach Beauty, Performing Talent, Top Model, Sports and Fitness, Multimedia Award and the mother of them all — Beauty with a Purpose.
Bongani’s failure to impress at the beauty pageant thus far could easily be attributed to the poor organisation and insufficient preparatory time before she left for China in June.
After the rather poor and stressing Miss Zimbabwe which was characterised by a lot of anomalies and disorganisation, Dhlakama was left with only two months preparatory time for the Miss World competition.
The period also saw her sitting for her examinations as she is a part-time student at the Midlands State University.
The 23-year-old lass kick-started her preparations for the fascinating modelling showcase on 1 June and left the country on 16 July after only six weeks of preparation.
Although the organisers insist that Bongani received proper grooming and preparations were done in time, her performance at Miss World tells a different story.
Sponsors came on board when she was already in her final stages of preparation to the premier event.
It seems she needed at least two months to prepare fully for the stiff competition in China.
For the Top Model category Bongani was groomed by a modelling coach from Edgar’s Stores to improve on her catwalk.
Probably she needed more coaches and in the designer category, she worked with Harare-based designer Alice Knuth, to tailor garments for her which carry the Zimbabwean flag.
At a glance, the dress which is embroidered in Zimbabwean colours, was not so breathtaking, and was too ordinary for such a stiff competition.
In the Talent category which she also failed, she performed the Ndebele traditional dance, isitshikitsha.
For Sport and Fitness, she was hitting the gym twice a week after being crowned Miss Zimbabwe until she left the country for China.
And in the “beauty with a purpose” category, the adjudicators will look into the charity work done by the contestants and how relevant they are in their respective communities and the world at large.
In her project, Bongani worked on cervical cancer awareness campaign, but with the limited time she had, she probably had no time to reach out to several parts of the country.
The Miss World contest is now in its 62nd year and the reigning Miss World, Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela, will be handing over the crown to her successor tonight.
Online Reporter