Miss Uzbekistan Mystery: Ms. World 2013 Contestant A Fraud?

Miss Uzbekistan mystery is baffling the pageant world right now.

Uzbekistan is being represented for the very first time in the prestigious Miss World beauty pageant by an 18-year-old lady named Rakhima Ganieva.

Miss Uzbekistan, left, poses next to Miss Albania

Ganieva, who hails from the Uzbek capital Tashkent, arrived in Bali, Indonesia earlier this month and has since been participating in the pre-pageant events together with the rest of the contestants from all over the world.

However, officials at the Uzbek Culture and Sports Ministry and the National Committee on Women say they don't know about Ganieva’s participation in the Miss World contest, adding their nation does not have a contest to select a Miss Uzbekistan.

Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek President Islom Karimov, reportedly commented on Twitter that the Miss Uzbekistan representative is a "Tajik-looking girl" who "appeared out of nowhere."

"Rakhima Ganieva never passed through any special selection process in Uzbekistan," Zhavlon Komolov, a representative of the Tashkent-based Pro Models modeling agency that briefly trained Ganieva when she was still 15 years old, told the Radio Free Europe.

He added, "If there had been a process to choose a young lady for this competition, I can assure you that a much more beautiful model would have been chosen. I'm sorry that Ganieva is choosing to build a career on lies."

NoypiStuff was able to contact Sayed Kemal, who defended Ganieva on Facebook, saying that Ganieva was indeed crowned Miss Uzbekistan 2013 earlier this year. Kemal, who claims to know the pageant's national director, said the event was held privately last July 20 without the knowledge of the ministry and the committee.

Kemal's statement is supported by the popular pageant website Missology.org.

"Miss Uzbekistan 2013 event organized by Interalliance UZ concluded last @0th of July in Tashkent and Rahima Ganieva won the coveted title, " Missology wrote. "Rahima topped the said competition after taking her best shot during the three levels- national costumes, catwalk in cocktail dresses and interview in evening dresses."

Organizers of Miss World have not released a statement regarding the said Miss Uzbekistan mystery, as of this posting.

The grand coronation night of this year's edition of Miss World will be held in Bali on September 28.