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The winner of Sri Lanka's biggest beauty prize has suffered head injuries after a brawl broke out on stage.<\/p>\nThe winner of Sri Lanka's biggest beauty prize has suffered head injuries after a brawl broke out on stage.<\/p>\n
Beauty queen Pushpika De Silva won the “Mrs Sri Lanka” title at a ceremony on national TV on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Moments later, the 2019 winner seized Ms De Silva's crown, claiming she could not be awarded the title because she was divorced.<\/p>\n
The prize has now been returned to Ms De Silva, after pageant organisers confirmed she is not a divorcee.<\/p>\n
Judges named Ms De Silva the 2021 winner at the Mrs Sri Lanka final in a theatre in Colombo on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
But the 2019 winner, Caroline Jurie, stripped Ms De Silva of her crown, citing a pageant rule that competitors must be married and not divorced.<\/p>\n
“There is a rule that prevents women who have already been married and are divorced, so I am taking steps to make the crown go to second place,” Ms Jurie told the audience.<\/p>\n
She placed the crown on the runner-up, prompting a tearful Ms De Silva to walk off stage, a video of the incident showed.
\nThe organisers have apologised to Ms De Silva, who says she is separated, but not divorced.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post, she said she went to hospital to be treated for head injuries after the incident.<\/p>\n
Ms De Silva said she would take legal action for the “unreasonable and insulting” way she was treated.<\/p>\n
“I'm still an un-divorced woman,” she wrote. “A true queen is not a woman who snatches another woman's crown, but a woman who secretly sets another woman's crown!”<\/p>\n
The national director of Mrs Sri Lanka World, Chandimal Jayasinghe, told the BBC that the crown would be returned to Ms De Silva on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“We are disappointed,” he said, adding: “It was a disgrace how Caroline Jurie behaved on the stage and the Mrs World organisation has already begun an investigation on the matter.”<\/p>\n
Police have questioned Ms Jurie, who is the current holder of the “Mrs World” title, as well as Mr Jayasinghe, about the incident.<\/p>\n
The Mrs Sri Lanka World beauty pageant is a major contest in the country. The prime minister's wife was among the guests at the ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The winner of Sri Lanka’s biggest beauty prize has suffered head injuries after a brawl broke out on stage. Beauty queen Pushpika De Silva won the “Mrs Sri Lanka” title at a ceremony on national TV on Sunday. Moments later, the 2019 winner seized Ms De Silva’s crown, claiming she could not be awarded the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n