CARACAS -- Venezuela's candidate to the Miss International 2010 competition Elizabeth Mosquera was crowned Sunday as Miss International 2010 at the Sichuan Province Gymnasium in Chengdu, China.

It was the 50th Anniversary of the Miss International pageant, and the fifth triumph for Venezuela in that competition after wins by Venezuelans Nina Sicilia, Vivian Urdaneta, Conuelo Adler, Goizeder Azua and Daniela Di Giacomo in previous years.

Mosquera is a native of Zulia state in Venezuela and represented the state of Trujillo in the Miss Venezuela 2009 pageant.

The 19 year old is studying Engineering at the University of Zulia.


Sixty-eight contestants competed for the Miss International title, the highest number in the pageant's 50 year history.

Miss International 2009, Anagabriela Espinoza of Mexico, crowned her successor.

Thailand's Piyaporn Deejing was first runner-up and China's Si Yi Yuan was second runner-up.

Costa Rica's Mariela Aparicio, France's Florima Treiber, Germany's Johanna Acs, India's Neha Hinge, Japan's Etsuko Kanagae, South Korea's Ko Hyeon-yeong, Peru's Laura Spoya, Philippines' Krista Arrieta Kleiner, Puerto Rico's Aideliz Hidalgo, Serbia's Anja Šaranović, Spain's Desirée Panal, and Turkey's Dilay Korkmaz rounded out the top 15.

Adriana Vasini, who represented Venezuela -- whose women have have dominated world beauty pageants for the last decade -- came in third at last week's Miss World competition, behind Miss USA, who won, and Miss Botswana, who was first runner up. That pageant was also held in China.