Sri Lankan model Savinda Tennakoon has placed third at the Top Model of Universe 2026 competition in Turkey and won the contest’s Best National Costume award, the Daily Mirror reported.
The competition ran in Istanbul from 14 to 18 September, with models from 33 countries taking part.
Tennakoon landed at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, at about 5.10 a.m. on Sunday aboard Turkish Airlines flight TK-730. His parents and the competition’s National Director for Sri Lanka, Mayura Perera, met him at the airport.
He is currently reading for a degree in Computer Science at a university in England.
Two placings, not one
The two results are separate awards and are worth distinguishing. The third placing is an overall ranking against the full field of 33; Best National Costume is a single-round title judged on the national dress segment — a category in which the garment and its designer are as much the subject as the model wearing it.
The Daily Mirror does not say who designed or made the Sri Lankan costume, which is the usual omission in this kind of report and the detail that would identify whose work took the award.
Not reported
The names of the first and second placeholders or their countries; the identity of the national costume’s designer; how Tennakoon was selected to represent Sri Lanka and by which body; whether the placing carries any onward qualification; and where in England he studies.
Daily Mirror is the only newsroom carrying the result. No other verified Sri Lankan or international outlet had reported it at the time of writing.
