Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Pre-competition favourite Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest for Israel on Saturday with her song Toy.Barzilai beat out competition from 42 other countries' performers to claim the music extravaganza's annual crown at the Grand Final in Lisbon, Portugal.There was a strong field of contestants at this year's event, and the Israeli entry topped close competition from Cyprus, Austria, Sweden and Germany.Barzilai racked up 529 points, compared with 436 for runner-up Cyprus and 342 for third-place Austria.The contest largely shed its traditional hallmarks of glitz and glitter in favour of a more restrained and tasteful tone in Lisbon, which was hosting the event because it won last year with Salvador Sobral's sober and subdued ballad Amar pelos Dois.Sobral last week criticized Toy as "horrible music." But Barzilai was unrepentant with her popular techno dance beat about women's empowerment.Her win — Israel's fourth and first since 1998 — means her country hosts next year's Eurovision Song Contest,