Before I go into my dissection of this year’s preliminaries I just felt the need to say some things about two of the usual suspects who almost always end up on our favorites list. Two girls who, by the reputation that precedes them, make other candidates uneasy. Two girls who, by their sashes alone, make us pay attention (maybe too much even). It is for this reason also that I have patiently kept looking at them. Unfortunately till now, I am unconvinced that they deserve to go any further, even with 20 slots this year.

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