Miss Hibiscus, Miss Congeniality, Miss Athlete of the Year

from w
Congratulations to Ann Naisara. What a lovely girl she seems to be. The story is from Fiji Times and the picture from Fijilive.

Athlete of the year is now queen of capital cityMonday, August 27, 2007

AFTER a long hard day of touring and making public appearances, Ann Patricia Naisara plans on catch up on her university studies. All that hard work paid off for Ann Patricia, 18, who was crowned as the Miss Hibiscus 2007 at Albert Park on Saturday night in the Vodafone-sponsored carnival. The first-year law student of the University of the South Pacific said even though she took leave from her classes, she continued her studies.

"This (beauty pageant) is not really my thing. Swimming is more my turf and this past week has been like a version of the Miss Congeniality for me," she said.

Her mum, Kesa Naisara said she was proud of her daughter because she managed to balance the contest and her studies. "She coped really well because she is good at time management and even though she took leave from her classes, she kept in touch with her course and continued to read her notes and did her assignments," said Mrs Naisara.

"I am taking law at USP to get background on international relations because that is what I am interested in," she said.

During her crowning on Saturday, Ann Patricia was in tears, saying she was overwhelmed and was waiting the reality to kick in. "I still don't know what to say or what to do; I can honestly say that I had not expected this win," she said. Ms Naisara said she was first approached to take part in the Hibiscus festival during the FASANOC Sports Awards when she won the Athlete of the Year Award. "Sanjay Punja of Flour Mills of Fiji asked me and my mum advised me to agree and so here I am," she said.

Now she wants to be ready for her role as an ambassador for the nation's capital city.