South Africa : Miss World contestants to help in Confederations Cup draw

By Bathandwa Mbola

Johannesburg - Eight contestants for the Miss World pageant are to lend a helping hand during the draw for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on Saturday.

During the 50-minute live show on SABC 1 at 5pm at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, the eight Miss World candidates will assist in the draw which will determine the two groups for the eight-team competition.

The first group of the world finalists arrived in Johannesburg this week for the Miss World competition which will also be held Sandton Convention Centre in December.

FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke, who is expected to conduct the draw, said: "Hosting a prestigious event as the Miss World competition again underlines South Africa's ability to stage major global events.

"And as for the beautiful contestants assisting me on Saturday, it's certainly a draw I will be looking forward to more than most."

The impressive line-up of draw assistants consists of Miss Brazil Tamara Almeida Silva, Miss Egypt Sanaa Ismail Hamed, Miss Italy Claudia Russo, Miss New Zealand Kahurangi Julia Taylor, Miss South Africa Tansey Coetzee, Miss Spain Patricia Yurena Rodríguez Alonjo, Miss United States Mercia Lane Lindell and reigning Miss World Zilin Zhang, who will represent Asian champions Iraq.

The 16 Confederation Cup matches will be played in four of South Africa's stadium's including Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld, and Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.

The eight-nation tournament known as the "Festival of Champions" will serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Users around the world can follow the draw live on FIFA.com via a video stream, with the exception of South Africa and Italy. The draw results will also be published on www.FIFA.com/southafrica2009. - BuaNews