53 posts tagged “baruto”
No change in the Sumo tournament as the two Yokozunas continue their domination and records continue falling.
Asashoryu and Hakuho are both 9-0 now. Neither one has been in any danger this whole tournament, though they've each had 1 or 2 long matches. Today, Asashoryu had a real battle with Baruto but ended it with an awesome Kakenage (which, I think, means a throw that includes kicking his leg up with your leg to get him to flip.)
By winning his 9th, Baruto got to 80 wins for the year. He's the 6th wrestler ever to do that and he did the fastest. (Among the others who've done it are Asashoryu, Takanohana, and Chiyonofuji.) 5-1 the rest of the way and Hakuho has the all-time record for wins in one year.
In the Ozeki team, Koto'oshu is hanging in at 8-1. Kaio has also finally started winning, getting to 6-3, and tying for 2nd all time with 804 career wins. He's 3 wins away from tying Chiyonofuji's all-time record of 807.
Chiyotaikai is 2-7 and faces Asashoryu tomorrow. In other words, he's almost guaranteed to get a losing record this tournament, which will mean a demotion, and hopefully one step closer to retirement.
Yoshikaze made it to 7-0, but then he lost on Day 8. He came back with a win today, though, to stay just 1 back.
The wrestlers at 7-2 include Toyonoshima (a highly-skilled wrestler who's lower in the rankings than he should be right now), Tochinoshin (the youngest wrestler in the bigs), Miyabiyama (a giant lardo who manages to do well every other tournament), and everyone's favorite hero Takamisakari.
Baruto has lost to the two Yokozunas in the last 3 days and dropped to a mediocre 5-4. Still, I expect him to pick it up in the second week and end up with 10 wins.
Once again, I'm having my best tournament ever for picking winners (averaging 7 out of 10 right each day) but not seeing the wins. Lost 2 tiebreakers and one match, 9-8. Kunitachi now sits barely over .500, at 5-4.
Asashoryu has kept the roll going all the way to the last day. With strong wins over the Ozekis in the last few days, he's now 14-0.
Hakuho has not looked as good as Asashoryu the past week. He's had lots of matches where he's gotten very good fights, struggling on the belt for up to a minute, before managing somehow to pull a great move at the end to get the win. But he's won them all and is still very much alive at 13-1.
Tomorrow Asashoryu faces Hakuho in the last match of the day. If Hakuho wins, the two will have a rematch playoff for the championship (which they did as well in January, when Asashoryu won his last tournament). If Asashoryu wants to keep his record for most wins in 1 year (84), he'd better beat Hakuho the first time. If Hakuho wins, he'll have 71 wins and only need a 13-2 record in November to tie Asashoryu's record. (I think they were also saying today that if Hakuho wins, he'll tie the record for most tournaments in a row with only 1 loss or less.)
The Ozeki team seemed to be competing better than usual this tournament, but in the end, they've all ended up with typically bad records. Kotomitsuki has done the best, at 9-5, though his only win since day 9 was a default when Chiyotaikai dropped out. Koto'oshu was 8-1, then lost 5 in a row to drop all the way to 8-6. Harumafuji has shown flashes but is also only 9-5. Kaio looked like a shoo-in to win 8 again, but managed to lose his last 4 and needs a win tomorrow vs. Harumafuji to get a winning record and not face demotion/retirement in January.
Baruto stayed strong (11-3), though he lost a tough one to Kakuryu today. It looked like Baruto was going to pull off his usual move of just picking up the smaller guy and carrying him out, but Kakuryu had a great defense for it:
Baruto will move back to Sekiwake in November and a strong tournament then might even get him a promotion to Ozeki. The other Sekiwake in November could be Kisenosato, who's at that rank now and, at 7-7, has a chance to win on the last day and keep his rank. Kakuryu is 10-4 and has a good chance to move back up to Komusubi in November. He'll probably win one of the prizes tomorrow (I'd guess Technique).
Continual up-and-down wrestler Goeido is heading up. He's gotten 5 straight wins to get to 9-5.
Takamisakari is heading down, but not much. He's lost 3 in a row and dropped to 6-8.
The top scrubs, returning from the minor leagues for this tournament, have been Bushuyama, Wakanosato, and Hokutoriki. All three are 10-4, and all three are in their 30's, so don't expect this to carry over much in November when they move up the rankings.
One wrestler who could carry the momentum is Tochiozan, also 10-4. He has great skill, is still young (22), and seems to be bigger and stronger this time around. He was a Komusubi in May, but had a bad tournament, then a disastrous 0-13 start in July. He must have gotten healthy in the last couple months, and should be good again in November if he stays that way.
Unfortunately, Futeno keeps sinking. He's 5-9 and will be back in the minors in November.
Meanwhile, the foreigners keep coming. In the low, low minors, one division was won by a Georgian and another was won by a Brazilian.
Sadly, my great run in the Sumo pool is coming to a crashing halt. Despite having my best tournament for picks (70% correct), my schedule has given me 4 straight losses to drop Kunitachi to 6-8 and assure me of demotion in November.
Quick update: There was a small shakeup at the top of the standings today - nearly a big shakeup.
Asashoryu won easily to go to 10-0.
Kotomitsuki and Koto'oshu were both 8-1, but both lost today. Koto'oshu lost to Kaio, who continues his renaissance, raising his record to 7-3 and, more importantly, taking 2nd place all alone on the all-time career wins list with 965. Kotomitsuki lost to Harumafuji, who seems to be settling in (7-3) for some spoilerish action this week.
Meanwhile, it could have been a big shakeup because Hakuho nearly lost to Kakuryu. Kakuryu really should have had him, but somehow lost his balance just long enough for Hakuho to get his back and yank him down by the arm. Here's the video (w/ English commentary - ugh). Match starts at 4:00.
Baruto keeps rolling, now 8-2. At the bottom of the rankings, Hokutoriki is up to 8-2. A couple more wins and he might have to face someone at the top of the rankings to put him in his place.
And, in the biggest news today, Chiyotaikai lost again (to Tamanoshima) to drop to 2-8 and assure himself of a losing record. He promptly dropped out of the tournament. (Hmm, I think I remember someone predicting that either Kaio or Chioytaikai wouldn't make it through this whole tournament.) He also caused some questions about whether he would retire from Sumo, to which he didn't have an answer. (I imagine he'll be back in November, but if he can't win 8 then, he'll retire.)
I've alternated losses and wins for several days now in the pool. Kunitachi now stands at 6-4 after a tiebreaker win today.
Standings:
10-0: Asashoryu
9-1: Hakuho
8-2: Koto'oshu, Kotomitsuki, Baruto, Hokutoriki
7-3: Harumafuji, Kaio, Kakuryu
2-8: Chiyotaikai
3 big Matches of the Day tomorrow: Asashoryu vs. Harumafuji; Hakuho vs. Kaio; Koto'oshu vs. Baruto
Well, the biggest news today was that I had my first perfect 10-0 day in the Sumo pool. Need it all, as I won 10-9, which sadly only got Kunitachi to 5-3 after I lost a bad one yesterday.
Meanwhile, in actual Sumo, it's Asashoryu leading the tournament all by himself. He hasn't dominated quite as much as he had been in the last couple days, but he's still winning.
After Hakuho lost his first on day 6, Koto'oshu (in black) lost to Kakuryu (in blue) on day 7:
Koto'oshu followed that up with this match today vs. Toyonoshima:
Then, today, Kotomitsuki was beaten by Kisenosato and that left Asashoryu alone at 8-0.
Kakuryu (now 7-1) and Kisenosato (5-3) both look like the real deal. Kakuryu is a little guy who wins with speed and Kisenosato is a big guy who wins with power, but both are young, with lots of skill, and could be Ozekis some day.
Also looking like the real deal this tournament: Baruto. He's still only lost to the two Yokozunas and looks as healthy as ever. Here's his match from today against fellow 400-pounder Miyabiyama (in purple):
As for Hakuho, he's won both his matches since his loss, but he got all he could handle from the lowly 1-7 Tamanoshima today. Maybe this just isn't his tournament. (Or maybe he'll win every match from now on and beat Asashoryu on the last day to win it all.)
Chiyotaikai lost to Kaio today to drop to 2-6, and he faces Asashoryu tomorrow. He may be dropping out of this tournament very soon.
8-0: Asashoryu
7-1: Hakuho, Koto'oshu, Kotomitsuki, Kakuryu
6-2: Baruto, Hokutoriki, Masatsukasa
5-3: Harumafuji, Kaio, Kisenosato, Tochiozan (one of my fav's, who's looking good this tournament), Kunitachi
4-4: Takamisakari
3-5: Futeno
2-6: Chiyotaikai
Big matches tomorrow: Hakuho vs. Kisenosato; Kotomitsuki vs. Kakuryu
I think the headline gives it away, but here's the setup: On the left, The Grand Champion Hakuho, 5-0 and completely dominating his competition. On the right, Shotenro, 0-5 in only his 4th tournament in the majors, facing a Yokozuna for only the 2nd time ever (after losing to Asashoryu on day 4). (Match starts at 3:20 in the video...)
That's pretty much perfect Sumo by Shotenro. Very shocking and makes this a very interesting tournament. That's only Hakuho's 4th loss this whole year, but that puts his chances of beating Asashoryu's 1-year win record in jeopardy. (Also makes Asashoryu's 34-win streak facing guys for the first time look that much more impressive.)
Speaking of Asashoryu, he is rolling. Although he moved backward for the first time this tournament, he beat his nemesis Aminishiki with a nifty sidestep move at the edge today to go 5-0.
Also 5-0, Koto'oshu and Kotomitsuki have both looked great this tournament. Neither has even looked in danger of losing yet.
The other Ozekis have been shaky. Harumafuji lost to weak competition, Tamanoshima and Tochinoshin, on consecutive days, but came back to beat a strong Kakuryu today to even his record at 3-3. Kaio hasn't looked up to beating the tough competition, losing to Baruto and Kisenosato, en route to a 3-3 record so far. And Chiyotaikai has looked completely hopeless, with no power behind his slap attack, falling to 2-4 so far.
Baruto has looked great with losses only to the two Yokozunas. And yesterday, he put up a great fight vs. Hakuho and almost got him:
Kakuryu lost his first today to Harumafuji, but he's looked great against the lower competition at Maegashira #3. Takamisakari is doing well again, 4-2 and in danger of moving up too high for his skills in November.
Masatsukasa is living up to his awesome name, at 5-1 in his first tournament back in the majors since January.
And I am doing great in the Sumo pool. Kunitachi is now 4-2 (the two losses were a tiebreaker loss & a 9-8 loss), picking at a 75% rate this time, and heading for double digit wins again.
After three days, no big surprises in the Sumo tournament.
Hakuho is as dominant as ever, 3-0.
Asashoryu sure doesn't look like he's got a knee injury. On the first day, despite my bold prediction, he not only beat giant Baruto, he did it by grabbing him and lifting him up completely and shoving him a mile. Do you think facing Asashoryu is intimidating? By beating Tochinoshin on Day 2, Asashoryu ran his winning streak when facing someone for the first time to 33! He should extend it to 34 tomorrow when Shotenro gets his first match with the Yokozuna.
Slightly surprising is the fact that Koto'oshu is wrestling just as well as he did last tournament. He's 3-0 and he's looked strong and confident. Also slightly surprising is Kotomitsuki's 3-0 start, as well as Kaio's relatively strong (for him) 2-1 start.
Not surprising: Chiyotaikai is 1-2. However, one of those losses was to Baruto, and he looks like he's all the way back in form. He didn't put up much fight to Asashoryu on Day 1, but came up strong with wins over Ozekis Harumafuji (2-1) and Chiyotaikai the next two days. He'll look to keep up the streak vs. Ozekis tomorrow against Kaio.
Sekiwakes Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku are both 2-1.
Tochinoshin, as expected, isn't handling the tough competition at the top of the rankings very well. He's 0-3, though he's had a tough schedule vs. both Yokozunas and Kotomitsuki.
Kakuryu's precipitous drop in the standings after a tough July has set him up for a good tournament at a lower rank, and he's started out looking very solid at 3-0. Also starting 3-0: Iwakiyama, Kakizoe, and Masatsukasa. (Don't expect any 2nd-week competition from those three.)
Takamisakari is 2-1, but Futeno seems to be hurt and has dropped his first 3 matches at the bottom of the rankings. He looks to be headed back down to the minors in November.
Kunitachi has started well, 2-1 after losing a tough one on a tiebreaker on Day 2. I picked 9 of 10 right on Day 1 and 8 of 10 on Day 3, and need to keep it up and try to get 11 or more wins this time to step up the promotion.
The 5th tournament of the year starts tomorrow in Tokyo with little fanfare and few interesting storylines.
This might turn out to be one of the least suspenseful tournaments in a while. I don't expect a lot of competition. Hakuho might wrap this one up by Day 13.
At Yokozuna, both Hakuho and Asashoryu are back again. Hakuho dominated in July, going 14-1 and winning his 11th championship. He should continue his dominance and his march toward the all-time record for most wins in one year. Meanwhile, Asashoryu is fighting a knee injury that's held him back a little in practice. He's good enough to stay near the top, but I doubt he'll compete for the tournament.
Koto'oshu had a huge tournament in July, hanging in the race for the Cup until Day 14, and received the highest civilian honor from his home country Bulgaria, but I think it's safe to expect a letdown tournament this time around. There is a chance Kotomitsuki could do something this time (he went 12-3 in July), but the most competition for Hakuho from the Ozeki team will probably come from Harumafuji. Harumafuji had a pretty bad tournament in July, starting an average 9-3 but then tiring out and losing his last 3 matches to finish at a mediocre 9-6. Kaio and Chiyotaikai both squeaked out 8-7 records last time, so there's no pressure on them this tournament. Both will surely continue their awful wrestling and I expect at least one of them won't make it to the end of the tournament. Kaio ties the all-time record this tournament for most tournaments ever at the top level of Sumo. He'll be tied with the American legend Takamiyama with 97 tournaments competed. (Maybe he's just playing out the year to break the record, then he'll retire.)
Kisenosato is back at the 3rd highest rank, Sekiwake. He's joined by Kotoshogiku. Neither will be looking at Ozeki promotion any time soon.
Baruto came back strongly from an injury-affected May debacle with an 11-4 record last time. He got promoted back into the top ranks, at Komusubi, and he'll be up against all the top wrestlers again. If he's physically OK, he'll win a bunch and move back up to Sekiwake.
Among the rank-and-filers down the rankings, there's not a lot to talk about. Tochinoshin is way up to his highest rank ever, at Maegashira #1 after consecutive 9-6 tournaments. This puts him in the path of all the top wrestlers, which should be a giant challenge for the young Georgian. In just his 3rd tournament in the majors, Mongolian Shotenro went 11-4 at #10 and moved all the way up to #2. Kakuryu and Goeido both faltered badly at Sekiwake in July and dropped all the way to #3 and #5, respectively, for this tournament. Takamisakari is competing at a realistic rank of Maegashira #7 this time, and apparently going with the always-disconcerting reverse-Swastika symbol (a perfectly acceptable and ancient symbol, but disconcerting nonetheless) on his Kessho-mawashi (see picture).
There are no rookies this tournament, but there are a bunch of wrestlers who made it back to the majors after good tournaments in the Juryo division. The most interesting of those is Tama'asuka, who finally made it back to the top division after 22 tournaments (over 3 years) in the minors. He had dropped all the way down to #31 in the Makushita, 2nd-minors, and fought his way back. He's still youngish at 26, so maybe he can make it stick and move up some now. I'll be rooting for him, especially since he's got the anti-Swastika -- a cartoon bunny wearing a baseball cap and a Sumo belt -- on his kessho-mawashi. Nice. I also like returnee Masatsukasa at the very bottom of the majors, because his name is so fun to say.
Finally, my man Futeno was spared by the Sumo gods, dropping him to #15 after a 6-9 July, but not out of the majors. Let's hope he can get his 8 wins and stay in the Maegashira.
My alter-ego, Kunitachi, got a decent bump after a 9-6 tournament in the Sumo pool. I'm up to Makushita #38 (from #47 in July). Looks like my hopes of making Juryo division by March are in trouble, but maybe by May...
Match of the Day tomorrow: Things start big with Asashoryu vs. Baruto on Day 1. I boldly predict Baruto finally breaks through and gets his first win against the Yokozuna.
While Hakuho continued his domination, getting one step away from the championship with a win over Koto'oshu, Asashoryu reminded me why I loved him and why he's possibly the best I've ever seen...
With Asashoryu, especially in his prime, you never knew what he might pull out of his hat. That move there (a "yagura-nage", using both his arms plus 1 leg to hurl his opponent Harumafuji) hadn't been seen in a sumo match since 1975. Incredible strength, skill, and timing. Later, he joked that that move is totally normal in Mongolian sumo. That win put Asashoryu at 9-3, two wins behind Hakuho but hanging onto a slim chance at a comeback playoff win.
To win it all, he'll need Hakuho to lose tomorrow (and against him on Sunday), because Hakuho beat Koto'oshu in the battle of leaders, to go to 11-1. Hakuho could win it all tomorrow with a win over Harumafuji and a Koto'oshu loss to Kaio. (If Harumafuji beats Hakuho, and Asashoryu wins out, those two (and maybe more) will finish in a tie.)
Koto'oshu dropped to 10-2. He's definitely still alive, because all he needs is Hakuho to lose one (and win both of his matches) to force a tiebreaker.
Also still alive: Aminishiki, who sidestepped Kotomitsuki at the faceoff and got an easy win to go to 9-3. Kotomitsuki is also 9-3. Both of them could also win out and, in the same scenario as Asashoryu's, make a playoff. (Five-man playoff? That would be amazing.)
In another exciting match today, Baruto pulled out one of his favorite moves, but this time in maybe his most spectacular style yet (Note: his opponent weighs 319 pounds):
Results so far:
12-1: Hakuho
11-2: Koto'oshu
10-3: Asashoryu, Kotomitsuki, Aminishiki
9-4: Harumafuji, Baruto, Shotenro
8-5: Kisenosato (will stay at Sekiwake in September), Tochinoshin
7-6: Kunitachi (lost 3 in a row, no 10-win tourney this time, just hoping for 8 wins and promotion in Sep. UPDATE: Just looked, and I actually won yesterday, 5-4, and got to 8-5. Got my promotion for next tournament, plus still have a chance at 10 wins!), Kaio, Chiyotaikai
6-7: Takamisakari
0-13: Tochiozan
Matches of the day tomorrow: Hakuho vs. Harumafuji; Asashoryu vs. Koto'oshu; Kunitachi vs. Canapayama (I go up against the guy who already won the tournament in my division. He's 13-0 and no one's ever gone 15-0 in the sumo pool. Huge challenge to keep 10-win hope alive.)
It's getting hot in Nagoya, as witnessed by the multitude of fans being waved by the audience at the Sumo tournament. But Hakuho has kept his cool...
10-0:
Amazing stat of the day: Hakuho has won 95 of his last 100 matches! Unbelievable. He hasn't looked in danger this whole tournament. He still has to face Koto'oshu, Harumafuji and Asashoryu, but a 15-0 tournament looks likely. He faces another contender, Kotomitsuki, tomorrow in the big match of the day.
Koto'oshu hasn't looked as dominant, but he hasn't made a single mistake. In his first real test today, he beat Kisenosato to stay undefeated and pretty much knock Kisenosato out of the chase. He ought to beat Chiyotaikai tomorrow, but he still has to face Kotomitsuki, Harumafuji, and both Yokozunas.
9-1:
Kotomitsuki beat Harumafuji and Baruto in his last 2 matches, so he's shown he's for real this tournament. His only loss was to Kisenosato on Day 6. If he can pull off the upset of Hakuho tomorrow, he'll have a strong chance of reaching a playoff for the championship.
8-2:
Asashoryu went 7-0, then lost on consecutive days to Kisenosato (understandable) and Chiyotaikai (really pathetic). He is pretty much out of the race for the championship, but he could play spoiler with upcoming matches against Koto'oshu, Kotomitsuki, and Hakuho. (Actually, if Kotomitsuki beats Hakuho tomorrow, then Asashoryu would make a playoff at worst by winning out, but that's a stretch.)
Aminishiki is at Maegashira #5 and having a great tournament. He beat Baruto early, but hasn't faced any real competition.
Shotenro had big expectations when he reached the majors in March after winning 2 straight tournaments in the minors. He didn't do too much in his first 2 tournaments in the majors, but he's looking good this time and should move up nicely in September.
7-3:
I've won 5 straight matches in the Sumo pool and Kunitachi is now up to 7-3 (and 3 wins away from my 3rd straight double-digit win tournament).
Harumafuji lost to Kotomitsuki yesterday to drop to 3 losses, so he won't be making Yokozuna any time soon, but he could still figure in the championship race, with a big upset or two.
Kisenosato also dropped out of the race with his loss today to Koto'oshu, but he did beat 3 Ozekis and one Yokozuna in the tournament and should finish strong and place himself well for future Ozeki promtion consideration.
Baruto has proved that last tournament's poor record was due to an injury or just a fluke. Having dropped down to Maegashira #3, he's gotten right back to his usual strong tournament (though, definitely, poor competition has supported his record this time.) 2 of his 3 losses are the two matches against Ozekis he's had. He has another chance to prove his mettle with a match against Harumafuji tomorrow.
A strong tournament for the Georgian Tochinoshin, who, at 21, still has time to live up to great expectations.
5-5:
The two old, lame Ozekis, Kaio and Chiyotaikai, are struggling along with 5-5 records. Unfortunately, the closer they get to the end of the tournament and near 8 wins, the more likely they are to make deals with other wrestlers to throw matches so they can keep their Ozeki rankings. Yes, it's true -- Freakonomics was right.
Takamisakari started terribly, but has won 4 of 5 to even his record at 5-5. I'm sure everyone would love to see him with a winning record and a promotion that would mean matches against Yokozunas and Ozekis in September (even though he'd probably end up 5-10 or worse against that level of competition).
Tosayutaka is putting up the best tournament among the rookies, though at 5-5, that doesn't say much.
4-6:
The 550-pound man-mountain Yamamotoyama's looking about as weak as a 550-pound man-mountain can look.
My man Futeno won his first 3, but he's 1-6 since then. Sigh -- no interviews for him this tournament.
3-7:
Not a good tournament for Kakuryu in his highest ranking ever of Sekiwake. He'll lose 8 or more and drop out of the top ranks (to be replaced by Baruto, probably).
2-8:
Dejima is a 35-year old, one-time Ozeki who just doesn't have it anymore. This is looking like his last tournament, as he's already announced he'll retire, rather than accept a demotion to the minors. At Maegashira #13 (5 from the bottom of the majors), with 8 losses already, this looks pretty likely. Must admit, I will not miss Dejima. I wish some other aging Ozekis would follow his lead.
1-9:
Ouch. The young Russian Aran clearly wasn't ready to be so high in the rankings (Maegashira #1) and to face all the top wrestlers. He'll drop way down in September, but probably start working his way back and hopefully do better when he makes it back up here.
Finally, in the Juryo minor division, the leaders are Hokutoriki and Wakanosato at 9-1. They're both ex-major leaguers who've done badly and been dropped to the minors. In other words, boring...
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.
