The Miss Universe Bangladesh announced today, April 20, that its candidate Tangia Zaman Methila will not be competing at the 69th Miss Universe beauty pageant in the US due to strict travel restrictions in her country.
Methila was crowned Miss Universe Bangladesh 2020. However, she won't be going to Florida.
"Due to lockdown and travel restrictions we could not finalize the preparations. So we will not be able to participate Miss Universe 2020.
"We already informed Miss Universe USA management accordingly earlier this week," according to an official statement released by Miss Universe Bangladesh.
Observers in Bangladesh, however, said that there were other reasons why Methila dropped out of the competition. They refused to elaborate.
Previously, Methila competed at the Miss Supranational 2019 pageant in Poland.
The finals of the 69th Miss Universe competition will be held on May 16 (May 17 in Manila).