Eunis Yao Crowned Miss Asia 2008

The grand finale to the Miss Asia Pageant 2008 took place yesterday evening at the ATV studio complex in Taipo. This year's competition was not judged by a panel and instead, the winners were selected by the audience, who cast their votes via the telephone lines and the internet.

Hot favourite Number 1 Eunis Yao lived up to expectations to take both the Miss Asia winner title and the award for Perfect Figure. First runner-up position went to Number 3 Belinda Yan, who also took the Miss Photogenic award and third place went to Taiwan's Number 9 Lene Lai.

Eunis a 23-year old masters student and is a veteran on the beauty pageant scene, having previous won awards in the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant in 2004 and winning the South China heat of the 2006 Miss Asia pageant.

The show opened with the announcement of the three contestants who had won a second chance to perform in the final after another round of audience votes. The three lucky ladies were Number 4 Melody Yao, Number 5 Tanya Manifold and Number 18 Iris Chen. However, the ladies still left the competition empty handed.

Many former winners of the Miss Asia title attended the pageant this year to show their support for their juniors and Alice Chan provided the mid-show entertainment. Jaclyn Chu, Coffee Lu and last year's winner Grace Cheung also gave a musical performance.

HK girl wins 1st 'Miss Asia by Public Vote'

Hong Kong beauty Eunis Yao was crowned Miss Asia 2008 on Sunday at the finals of the annual pageant that saw public voting accepted for the first time.

Yao, 23, claimed 137,610 votes in a global poll, the website of the contest announced. She was also named the Perfect Figure.

Twenty-two year old Belinda Yan, who is also from Hong Kong, received 129,416 votes to be named the second runner-up and Miss Photogenic. Taiwan's 19-year-old Lene Lai was awarded the third place with 60,542 votes.

The top three were selected by fans worldwide who voted for their favourite by either sending text messages or voting via the event's website.

Previously, winners were decided by a panel of judges.

This year's contest also attracted candidates from the Chinese mainland, as well as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Turkmenistan.

The Miss Asia pageant was launched by Asia Television Limited, a Hong Kong-based broadcaster, in 1985. Previous champions include Kristy Yang (in 1995), who went on to become a popular actress, and Nina Li (in 1986), wife of action star Jet Li.