Though the 62nd edition of the Miss International Beauty Pageant remains steeped in traditional Japanese values and cultural immersion, the gradual modernizing touches brought on by Stephen Diaz continues on, as this time the live final will feature a live competition for the Top 20 walking in swimsuits before whittling them down to a Final Eight + One (because the overall popular vote champion is reportedly going to be added to that cut) and like last year, there will be a live Q&A instead of the pre-rehearsed "cultural" speeches of years past. On top of all these, there is a team taht actually uploaded the footage of the entire Preliminary Evaluation (interview and swimsuit), so we almost have a very good picture to assess the 71 delegates at this point. I'm tempted to structure this review as such, but I decided to contunue with my format from last year, where after I post this "Fearful" Forecast, I will post a full-fledged Delegates and Pageant review. All 71 delegates are still competing in the finals in national costume and evening gown, so in a way, the full Preliminary Evaluation has not yet been completed.
With the impressions we have of them thus far, here's how my leaderboard for this batch looks like:
TOP CONTENDERS: CABO VERDE, CZECH REPUBLIC, INDONESIA, PERU, THAILAND,
SHOO-INS: COLOMBIA, FINLAND, KOREA, NIGERIA, PHILIPPINES, VENEZUELA, VIETNAM
LIKELIEST: AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, COTE D'IVOIRE, CUBA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, JAPAN, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, MOLDOVA, MONGOLIA, MYANMAR, NETHERLANDS, PANAMA, POLAND, PUERTO RICO, ROMANIA, SIERRA LEONE, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH SUDAN, SPAIN, SRI LANKA, TAIWAN, UKRAINE, UNITED KINGDOM,
INTERVIEW/ADVOCACY FACTOR: NEPAL
EXCELLENT: ALBANIA, BANGLADESH, CAMBODIA, CHILE, CHINA, COSTA RICA, ECUADOR, ETHIOPIA, FRANCE, GHANA, HAWAII, HONG KONG, IRELAND, LAOS, LIBERIA, NEW ZEALAND, U S A,
VERY STR ONG: ARGENTINA, CANADA, GUATEMALA, INDIA, ITALY, KYRGYZSTAN, LUXEMBOURG, MACAU, NICARAGUA,
STRONG: PARAGUAY, PORTUGAL, SINGAPORE,
From the above leaderboard, here is my "Fearfule" Forecast:
FINAL FIVE: CABO VERDE, CZECH REPUBLIC, INDONESIA, PERU, THAILAND,
FINAL EIGHT + ONE: COLOMBIA, FINLAND, KOREA, PHILIPPINES
TOP 20: AUSTRALIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, JAPAN, NIGERIA, PANAMA, PUERTO RICO, VENEZUELA, VIETNAM
BUBBLING UNDER: BELGIUM, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, COTE D'IVOIRE, CUBA, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, MOLDOVA, MONGOLIA, MYANMAR, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, ROMANIA, SIERRA LEONE, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH SUDAN, SPAIN, SRI LANKA, TAIWAN, UKRAINE, UNITED KINGDOM,
STRIKING DISTANCE: ALBANIA, BANGLADESH, CAMBODIA, CHILE, CHINA, COSTA RICA, ECUADOR, ETHIOPIA, FRANCE, GHANA, HAWAII, HONG KONG, IRELAND, LAOS, LIBERIA, NEPAL, NEW ZEALAND, U S A,
