Aditya Khurana, 22, from India bested over 20 other contestants to win the 4th Man of the World competition held on Saturday, June 18 at Baguio Convention Center in Baguio City, Philippines.
The runners-up were Vladimir Grand of Ukraine, Nadim El Zein of the Philippines, Tjardo Vollema of the Netherlands, and Nguyen Huu Anh of Vietnam.
Korea’s Jin Kyu Kim relinquished his reign at the end of the event.
The new Man of the World winner was born and raised in Pune, Maharashtra, India in a middle-class family. He is an actor, a singer, a model, and a content creator.
During the question and answer portion, he was asked to respond to a quote from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai “With guns you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism.”
“If you have the true knowledge of whom to follow and whom not to, that is where education will lead you to. If you get the knowledge of whom to follow and whom not to, you will never get into terrorism,” he said.
“Terrorism is nothing but just a mindset which has gone in the wrong way. You missed the self-belief, you go in a different way. Believe in yourself, choose your path wisely, and yes, do have education before you choose it,” he added.
It was the first time for India to win the international male competition.
Man of the World is organized by Manila-based Prime Event Productions Philippines (PEPPS) Foundation, which also mounts the annual Misters of Filipinas competition.