After the prancing and the dancing at the stage of the Resorts World auditorium in Pasay of women clad in bikinis and tight-fitting night gowns, it was time for the most anticipated segment of the night. Aside from the bikini portion, the question-and-answer segment has become highly sought after. It wasn’t that people looked forward to the genius that these ladies possessed. Rather, it was the off chance that they would say something embarrassing.

So as the gorgeous, long-legged Carla Jenina Lizardo from Bicol made her way up stage with a serene smile on her face, she was pitted with the most unlikely of questions: How would you convince a person to eat balut?

“As an Atenean, we pride ourselves for being eloquent,” she says, “but, there was really no elegant way to answer that question.”

Beauty and brawn

Watching all the girls in beauty gowns and stage make-up, many watching the Mutya ng Pilipinas replay may have recognized the 5’7’’ beauty from a different stage. A stage far less extravagant and instead of harsh lights and platforms, primed with lines and divided by a net―a UAAP badminton court. Your eyes weren’t deceiving you. This was the very same Carla Lizardo, the Lady Shuttlers Team Captain.

Aside from genes fit for a beauty queen―her mother and her aunt also joined pageants during their time―Lizardo is also blessed with the athletic gene. Her brother is ex-tennis pro Joseph Lizardo.

“Pageantry was always a dream,” she says. But the interest has only been recent; Lizardo had been an athlete first.

“When I first walked in they told me that I walked like a [policewoman], because I have such an athletic build,” she says.

She remembers being forced to play tennis when she was eight. However, a sensitive skin condition forced her to move indoors and soon badminton was her sport. Since then, Lizardo has never looked back. Numerous summers spent for training and her status as one of the Lady Shuttlers’ seasoned veterans are testament to her dedication to the sport.

Despite nerves of steel built upon years of playing competitive badminton, Lizardo found herself facing a completely new challenge. Standing on that stage in front of hundreds in attendance, Lizardo, Lady Shuttlers Captain and rookie beauty pageant contestant, was caught off guard.

Unfamiliar territory

Lizardo was not in her comfort zone; this was not a drop shot she could hustle to get to, a high flying shuttlecock she could clear, or a smash she could deflect.

The 20-year old prayed that her answer wouldn’t be the one to replace Venus Raj’s “major, major” catch phrase. Or worse, be the star of a thousand-hit YouTube video.

With less than five minutes on the clock, it was up to her badminton reflexes, years spent in the academe, and months of preparation for the Mutya Pageant, to formulate a response that would make a win feasible.

Taking a deep breath, and flashing a smile, Lizardo’s composure was amiable. She answered saying that she would eat it first, make the foreigner eat it, but only disclose what a balut is afterwards. Lizardo shares, “I thought I blew my chances of winning.”

Tensions were high and anticipation was rising when finally, her name was called, announced to be the winner of the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant.

Entering the competition, Lizardo wasn’t even expecting to make the top 24. “I was so shocked, I was under the impression that only people that have entered beauty pageants could win,” she says.

An unlikely start

In the Philippines, just as basketball and boxing aren’t just sports, beauty pageants are not just beauty pageants. The country’s number seven ranking, behind leaders Venezuela, USA, India and Mexico in this year’s World Beauty Pageants Ranking is testament to how serious the nation takes pageantry.

Competition was rigorous. “Some of the young women in Mutya have been doing this thing for years,” Lizardo says.

Lizardo’s hair dresser suggested that she audition for the pageant. With the support and persuasion of her parents and friends, Lizardo found herself in the midst of the pageant’s America’s Next Top Model-esque audition process. Three weeks later, she received a call back.

Badminton first

If it wasn’t for the persuasion of the Mutya committee, Lizardo would not have been part of the competition at all.

Halfway through the pageant preparations, and despite all the work she had already put in, Lizardo wanted to back out of the pageant, with the intention of joining the next year.

Her obligations for the pageant coincided with the UAAP badminton season. As the team captain, she feared that her hopes of being a beauty queen would interfere with her commitment to the team.

But the Mutya committee wouldn’t let Lizardo go easily, convincing her to juggle both endeavors. While it was a daunting task to juggle academics, Mutya obligations and every day badminton, it was an investment well worth it.

Lizardo only missed one badminton game (against Adamson) and the Lady Shuttlers finished sixth―one better from last year’s finish. Lizardo believes that theirs is a young team, and they still have the potential to do better next year.

With the win in Mutya, Lizardo has unlocked the door to a window of opportunities, but for her she will always be an athlete first.

Being in a pageant may have taught Lizardo to be more graceful, but without the dedication, determination, and composure she has attributed to her years of competing, Lizardo could not have been so well prepared.