Miss India 2023 first runner-up Shreya Poonja opens up on her struggles and triumph.
On Sunday, in a glittering ceremony in Imphal, Delhi’s Shreya Poonja was crowned the first runner-up of Miss India 2023. A graduate in economics, this edition of Miss India was not Shreya’s first rodeo. She has participated in pageants before, even winning crowns earlier. Days after winning her crown, Shreya spoke to DNA about the triumph and why it felt sweeter a second time around.
Talking about her favourite memory of the night, Shreya recalls, “One of my favourite memories is from the finale night from just before the crowning. I had never been to Imphal before. And each time we walked out, I did not expect that kind of reaction from the crowd. I grew on the crowd probably because their cheering kept on increasing each time I stepped on stage. I will remember for the rest of my life how I saw people cheering and roaring for me.”
Having won the Campus Princess crown in 2019, Shreya had some experience in the national pageant circuit. “This was not my first time competing,” she says, before adding why that matters, “When you compete for the first time, there are not many fears in your mind. You perform with a very free spirit.”
However, being an ‘experienced’ campaigner means you have the weight of expectations, says Shreya. “When you are already familiar with the environment, there are already a set of expectations that everyone has of you and you have of yourself. That is a very high amount of pressure to cater to. That was a challenge for me because there was way more at stake this time, way more to lose than earlier,” the 22-year-old adds.
While Shreya was the first runner-up, Rajasthan’s Nandini Gupta emerged as the winner of Miss India 2023 at the event in Imphal while local girl Strela Thounaojam Luwang was crowned the second runner-up.
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 "Miss India 2023 first runner-up Shreya Poonja")
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