Metro

Thursday July 2, 2009

First timers doing the catwalk

By Jeremy Tan


THEY sang, they danced and they strutted the catwalk. Some were visibly nervous while others oozed confidence, but at the end of the day, there could only be one winner.

At the recent state finals of the Miss Chinese Campus Malaysia 2009 pageant at Prangin Mall in Penang, 18-year-old TAR College accounting student Choong Yan Yin grabbed the crown with her graceful catwalk and exuberant musical perfor-mance.

The pageant was open to youngsters between their mid-teens to mid-20s, with no previous modelling experience.

The event, organised by KZ Entertainment Productions, was divided into four rounds — an introductory round, catwalk round, talent show and a question-and-answer session.

Dazzling trio: Winner Choong (middle) with second-placed Chong (left) and third-placed Tan posing for the press.

For the talent round, Penangite Choong performed two musical numbers with aplomb. Clad in an eye-catching furry blue costume, she started off with a sentimental number, before changing into a red top and heating things up with an upbeat song.

“I’ve performed those songs before in school concerts. So, I felt they would be good choices today. Normally, I only join dance competitions, but I decided to give this pa-geant a try and I’m very excited and happy to have won,” said Choong, who will move on to compete in the national finals in August.

Despite walking away with the crown, RM500 cash and other prizes, she admitted she wasn’t really interested in a modelling career, as her main aim in joining the contest was merely to gain experience. As an added bonus, she also picked up the Miss Arissa subsi-diary title.

Winner Choong Yan Yin belting out a number during the talent round.

In second place was 23-year-old Universiti Malaya law student Cynthia Chong of Kuala Lumpur, who only joined the competition after being prompted by a friend to audition during her visit to Penang several weeks ago. She performed a musical dance for the talent segment.

“To be honest, I didn’t really pay enough attention to the talent show, as I only started practising around three hours before the event. It has taught me a lesson to be better prepared next time, and I will try harder,” Chong said.

She added that she was slightly disappointed not to win. She also grabbed to subsidiary titles — Miss Passion and Miss ISOS.

Third place went to 19-year-old TAR College business administration student Jennifer Tan, who opted for a co-lourful traditional dance routine to showcase her talents. Modestly, she attributed her credible finish to luck and also her friends who encouraged her to participate.

“I wanted to prove that I have the abilities to succeed, and this pa-geant has taught me a lot on how to catwalk and speak in front of large audiences,” added Tan, also a Penangite.

The pageant was further enlivened by a pair of local siblings among the fina-lists, who between them swept half of the eight subsidiary titles on offer.

Teh Yik Yung, 18, also a TAR College accounting student, grabbed three titles — Miss Dee Beauty, Miss Michito Gorgeous and Miss Taiway. Her younger sister, 17-year-old Yik Ting of SMK Union was crowned Miss Republic.

“We read about the pageant in the newspapers, and our mother encouraged both of us to join,” said Yik Yung.

“It was purely for fun only, although we did learn a lot about strutting the catwalk,” added Yik Ting.

Both of them have been passionate about dancing since young. So, it came as no surprise that both opted to showcase their energetic dance moves during the talent round, albeit with contrasting themes.

Yik Yung opted for a traditional Chi- nese fan dance while Yik Ting rocked to the Latin-pop beat of Jennifer Lopez’s Let’s Get Loud.

The Penang state final was the third in a series of five, following earlier ones in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Two more are scheduled to be held in Perak and Malacca next month, before moving back to Kuala Lumpur for the national finals in early August.

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