A deluge of close to 200 super pretty and gorgeous ladies and fashion models came in to be shortlisted by Sports Illustrated following its first-ever open casting calls last month for famous Swimsuit Issue for 2017.

On the latest count on SI website, there are more than 180 ladies featured, but it is quite certain that the list can hit more than 200 ladies as the in-person castings (photo shoots, interviews, etc.) on Facebook Live will still be made next month, May.

The pre-casting, made via online, is still going on. To be shortlisted, an applicant has only to submit an Instagram video having a maximum length of the 60-second Instagram video.

On the official website of Sports Illustrated, the management announces it does not discriminate the ethnicity of applicants, saying they want "to work with models who understand the value of the SI Swimsuit platform and (who) want to take advantage of all that it offers."

Sports Illustrated is searching beautiful ladies and best models around the globe "enthusiastic to be part of the legendary SI swimsuit brand."

Early hot bombshells and considered as most popular in Daily Swim are Ronda Rousey, Hannah Davis, Nina Agdal and Kate Upton. But Instagram star and bikini model Alexis Ren emerges also as one of the stunning models.

Ren is a 19-year-old Instagrammer, who has over five million followers. She rose to online fame for regularly sharing images of herself in a bikini.

But that is only one of SI's slices of sexy life. There are more models shortlisted with pretty faces and curvaceous figures that one cannot easily decide for the who's who among them.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American Sports Illustrated magazine, which was first published in 1964.

The magazine was credited a lot for the making of the bikini as a legitimate piece fo apparel.

When the bikini was invented in 1946, it was only fifteen years later that it got wide acceptance due to the promotion of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.