Uma Blasini of Puerto Rico :: Missosology.Org



	“If Only She Was There…” is a tradition of Missosology.Org that has run for several years from now and we have many fabulous women that has already been featured by the popular section. This year, at Miss Universe 2007, there are several women that fit in to the description of being an outstanding delegate who failed to make the cut. It includes Valentina Massi of Italy, Megan Coleman of South Africa, Natalia Arroyo of Spain, among others. There are of course several reasons why a strong delegate failed to be in the semi-finals. Paramount to these reasons is that the term “strong delegate” is a highly subjective matter and definitely, the judges might just wouldn’t agree with our point of view. Take Miss Puerto Rico Uma Blasini for example. In our view, she was excellent in swimsuit and gown preliminaries but the judges didn’t agree with our view (either that or the Miss Universe Organization didn’t like to pick her). Born Wilmadilis Blasini Perez in Ponce, Puerto Rico, she has a knack for not giving up. She participated at the Miss Puerto Rico Universe contest in 2005 but failed to garner a major title (the crown went to Cynthia Olavarria who went on to win the first runner-up title at Miss Universe 2005 held in Bangkok). She didn’t give up and in 2007 she achieved her dream of representing her island-country at Miss Universe. She was also reported to be a thyroid cancer survivor reinforcing the fact that she is indeed a fighter. Standing 6 feet and 2 inches, Uma’s appeal lies on her tall and leggy physique. It is of no wonder that she won the “Best Legs” award during the Miss Puerto Rico Universe contest. At the preliminary contest at Miss Universe 2007, her performance was outstanding. A financial executive, model and active volleyball player, Uma is definitely a modern woman and charming the judges at interviews should have been easy for her. With all the achievements and statistics for Uma, why the unfortunate happened? We have already hinted in our predictions that the possibility of having a Puerto Rican crowning another Puerto Rican is highly improbable. Well in fact, it never happened before at Miss Universe. In 1995, Sushmita Sen nearly crowned compatriot Manphreet Bhrar in a pageant that Miss USA Chelsea Smith won. In 1997, Alicia Machado also almost crowned a fellow Venezuelan Marena Bencomo but Brook Mahealani Lee – again an American – got into the way. In these instances, many pageant observers felt that both Bhrar and Bencomo performed very well and that Smith and Lee were surprise winners. Drawing a parallel line, it is possible that Uma might be taken off the list to avoid such possibility. After all, Puerto Ricans are happy with Zuleyka Rivera’s 2006 victory which earned the Commonwealth a place among the beauty superpowers.
	It is clear however that this year’s pageant skipped a lot of strong delegates and we already admitted at the commencement of the pageant that the competition is very strong and that there was no indication of someone “taking it all the way”. It is also unfortunate that MUO has the option to choose some semi-finalists and it is evident that their choices are contrary to what the preliminary judges think. There are strong clamors before about this scheme as it is clearly unfair to delegates positioned from 11^th to 15^th places at prelims.

	Uma was also unfortunate that the pageant shifted its attention in Asia. The Asian flavor is evident in the judging panel for example (Jason Kyson Lee and Michell Kwan are of Asian in origin) and it came into pass that delegates from Asia are clearly strong this year. At the start we have been talking – for eternity it seems – that the pageant will be of Hispanic flavor due to geographic factors. Had we been right, there is no doubt that Uma will be in along with strong Latinas that include Misses Dominican Republic, Peru and Costa Rica. In conclusion, we feel that Uma deserves her place in the semi-finals. The way she walk, pose and move are very polished. We have nothing but praises for her performance and it is indeed a shock that someone less deserving took her place.
Photos: Miss Universe L.P. LLP

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