Sumo Update Day 7: 3-man race - Asa, Haku & Who?!?
It seems every 14 months like clockwork Koto'oshu competes for a championship. In May '08, he won his first 7 matches en route to his one and only trophy. Now he's got the 7-0 start again, and has even looked very good doing it (though he's faced a very easy schedule), so maybe he'll compete all the way to the end.
The two other leaders are familiar: Yokozunas Hakuho and Asashoryu. Of course. Hakuho continues to look unbeatable. He faced a true test today, facing off against the up-and-coming Sekiwake Kisenosato, and winning pretty easily. He has his record for 2009 up to 50-2 (not including 2 playoff losses) and they're already talking about the possibility of his breaking Asashoryu's record (84) for wins in 1 year. That would be truly amazing, considering he actually has some competition.
Asashoryu, meanwhile, seems to have steadied the early shakiness and is back to his typical style -- not looking dominant like Hakuho, but never really in danger of losing. Tomorrow, he'll be the one tested by facing Kisenosato, who's now 5-2 with losses to Harumafuji and Hakuho.
Contending at 6-1 are Kotomitsuki and Baruto. Kotomitsuki finally lost on day 6 to Kisenosato, but has looked very good in the rest of his matches and could pull off a couple upsets late. Baruto, who was a Sekiwake in his last few tournaments but must have been injured last tournament and dropped down, looks back to normal again. He's been winning with some serious strength, either grabbing his opponent's belt and picking him up or tossing him down, or just shoving him out of the ring with his giant wingspan. He's probably not up to contending with the Yokozunas yet, but he'll get a good record and head back up where he was before. We'll get a good idea tomorrow when he faces the 7-0 Koto'oshu.
Barely hanging in contention are Kisenosato and Yokozuna-wannabe Harumafuji, both 5-2. Harumafuji lost a 2nd match to Aran on Day 5, which pretty much ended his hopes of a Yokozuna promotion this time around, but he could hang around near the top and set himself up for another attempt at promotion after September's tournament. Kisenosato is setting himself up now for talk of promotion to Ozeki.
The two old Ozekis, Kaio and Chiyotaikai, are barely surviving so far at 4-3.
Takamisakari is weathering the storm at a high ranking (for him) and stands at 3-4 and might be able to eke out 8 wins (which would move him up to way out of his league). Man-mountain Yamamotoyama looked very bad, losing 3 of his first 4, but has found his strength again and won 3 in a row to reach 4-3.
The rookies aren't looking too good. Mokonami and Tosayutaka are 3-4, while Wakakoyu is 2-5. But Shotenro, who got promoted to the majors in March after just 2 tourneys in the Juryo division, is finally living up to expectations, at 5-2.
Meanwhile, in the Sumo pool, Kunitachi also struggled early, but has won 4 of 5 (3 by tiebreakers), to get back on the positive side at 4-3. I'm averaging 6.6 out of 10 right each day, my best tournament yet, but everyone else is doing better, too. I need to win 6 of the next 8 to keep my 10-win streak alive and keep hope alive for Juryo promotion by next March.
