HIKING INJURY: Sprained foot keeps Vancouver beauty on the sidelines for Miss Universe

Miss Universe Canada Sahar Biniaz, left, says she hopes to attend the Miss Universe pageant to lend her full support to runner-up Adwoa Yamoah from Calgary, who will now be competing for Canada. Photo illustration/Miss Universe

LARISSA CAHUTE
VANCOUVER DESI

After a decade of training for the Miss Universe pageant, Vancouver’s Sahar Biniaz had to make the difficult decision to step out of the running after she injured her foot.

Biniaz was out hiking the Chief in Squamish Nov. 26 when she sprained the ball of her foot — two days before she was set to fly out to Las Vegas for the Dec. 19 competition.

“I had to make a decision if I was going to go to Miss Universe with the crutches and be alright by the time the competition comes, or if I wasn’t — Canada was not going to have a representative,” Biniaz told Vancouver Desi on Wednesday. “Our country comes first and therefore I decided to talk with the organization and we sent the first runner-up.”

Biniaz was crowned Miss Universe Canada in May and said she’s spent the last 10 years of her life training for the international competition.

“(I had) gone through every single question and answer they had gone through with (past) contestants, I trained with a Venezuelan coach in Panama,” she said. “I had done every single thing possible.”

And although stepping out of the running was a tough decision, as expected, she still plans to continue her charitable mission.

“A crown and a sash doesn’t define me at the end of the day and there’s nothing that I couldn’t do as Miss Universe Canada that I could have done with Miss Universe,” she said.

She’ll be continuing with her Canada-wide tour visiting a school in each province to talk with kids — and she believes this recent challenge will set a positive example.

“You can try really, really hard, you can have a dream, but it might not happen. But it doesn’t mean you’ve got to give up,” she said. “It’s just another message to get right back up and keep doing what you’re doing.”

For now, Biniaz has been spending time with family and recovering, but she hopes to attend the Miss Universe pageant to lend her full support to runner-up Adwoa Yamoah from Calgary, who will now be competing for Canada.

“I’m still really excited because there’s so many things to look forward to,” said Biniaz.

She’s already been invited to the home base of SOS Villages in Sweden and has been sought out for some Bollywood films.

While there were rumours she’d be a judge in the Miss Universe pageant, Biniaz said it’s not true — however, she did mention there are some opportunities that involve her working with Donald Trump in the near future, but she “can’t really disclose that right now.”

Miss Universe 2012

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Miss Denmark 2012, Josefine Hewitt, and Timomatic make their way on stage during rehearsals on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 at PH Live in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 89 Miss Universe contestants will compete for the Diamond Nexus Crown on the LIVE NBC Telecast of the 2012 Miss Universe Pageant set for 8 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2012. Matt Brown/AFP/Miss Universe Organization