Overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Kieu Khanh will represent Vietnam in the Miss World 2010 pageant in Sanya, China.

Pretty woman: Kieu Khanh will represent Viet Nam at the 60th Miss World competition in Sanya, China.

Khanh, 19, was the first runner-up in the Miss Vietnam World pageant held in August in Nha Trang. She won the title of Miss Vietnam World in Europe in 2009.

With the approval yesterday of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Khanh qualified to represent the nation in the international pageant.

Khanh was worthy representative of Vietnamese beauty for one of the most prestigious international pageants, said to the Elite Entertainment Group, the owner of the Miss World trademark in Vietnam.

Khanh, who also won a local on-line poll, has received congratulations from her friends and others.

"The great support is pressure but also strength to help me try my best at the upcoming pageant," Khanh said.

Born and raised in Germany, Khanh spoke Vietnamese fluently when she was small. She still holds Vietnamese nationality. She is 1.76m in tall and has vital statistics of 85-63-94.

At the age of 15, Khanh was a model in Germany but gave up modelling when she was in the 11th grade. She is now a student at the University of Rostock in the German State of Mecklenburg-Vorpomern.

Khanh has returned to Ho Chi Minh City to prepare for the upcoming event, where she is being trained by experts from the Elite Entertainment Group and dressed by designers like Hoang Hai and Vo Viet Chung.

She will head to Sanya, in Hainan Province, to compete with over 120 other contestants early next month. The pageant final will take place on October 30, when reigning Miss World Kaiane Aldorino will crown her successor.

This is the ninth year a Vietnamese contestant has taken part in the Miss World contest, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.