13 posts tagged “takamisakari”
Hakuho and Koto'oshu won to stay undefeated. Toyonoshima lost to Takamisakari, leaving them the only leaders.
Asashoryu and Kisenosato won to stay one back, and Kisenosato faces Koto'oshu tomorrow.
Kotomitsuki and Kaio won, but Chiyotaikai lost.
6-0: Hakuho, Koto'oshu
5-1: Asashoryu, Kisenosato
4-2: Kotomitsuki, Ama, Goeido, Roho
3-3: Kaio, Chiyotaikai, Kotoshogiku, Asasekiryu, Futeno, Takamisakari, Homasho
0-6: Baruto, Tochiozan
Match of the day tomorrow: Koto'oshu vs. Kisenosato
He's back. It took him a tournament and a half, but Asashoryu has returned to the sole leader position in Sumo.
With his win today, he went to 8 straight wins without a loss, leaving him as the only undefeated wrestler remaining in the tournament. He beat youngster Wakanoho in their first career match-up. It was the 28th straight win for Asashoryu in a match against someone he'd never faced before. Now that's intimidation factor!
Hakuho lost to Aminishiki on day 4, but that's his only loss of the tournament, so he's hanging in for the chance to beat Asashoryu on the last day.
The other wrestlers who were the last to lose were Homasho, who's fighting in a lower position than he should be, and Tochiozan, who's always had the ability to dominate. Both lost yesterday to drop to 7-1.
Also at 7-1 is Takamisakari, in the best start I can remember for him ever. Baruto knocked Tochiozan off today to get up to 6-2 and personal favorite Futeno won his 5th in a row to go to 6-2.
For the Ozeki's, the two you'd expect to be losing are winning and the two you'd expect to win are losing. Chiyotaikai (needing 8 wins to keep his rank) and Kaio are both 6-2. Kotomitsuki, who has been an absolute failure since getting his promotion to Ozeki a few tournaments ago, and Koto'oshu, who has also been completely mediocre since his lightning-fast rise to Ozeki, are both 2-6. Koto'oshu is dropping out of the tournament with an injury starting tomorrow, and it looks like Kotomitsuki might be right behind him.
After Ichihara went down on day 1, another youngster doesn't seem to have been ready for fighting the big boys. Sakaizawa was forced to drop out of the tournament after hurting his knee on day 7. He was 3-4.
Standings:
8-0: Asashoryu
7-1: Hakuho, Takamisakari, Tochiozan, Homasho
6-2: Kaio, Chiyotaikai, Kokkai, Baruto, Futeno
5-3: Roho, Goeido
4-4: Ama, Kotoshogiku, Kisenosato, Asasekiryu
I have been slacking on my Sumo commentating. The Osaka tournament is through 4 days now and I haven't posted on it.
Through 4 days, there are currently 7 wrestlers with undefeated records. That does not include Yokozuna Hakuho, who lost today when Aminishiki jumped out of the way on the faceoff. Hakuho is going for his 4th straight championship, after beating Asashoryu on the last day last tournament.
Asashoryu, meanwhile, is one of the 4-0 wrestlers, and hasn't had any problems yet. He is looking for his first win in 4 tournaments, and 22nd overall.
Among the other 4-0 wrestlers are: everyone's favorite Takamisakari; Homasho, who did terribly last tournament and has dropped so low his competition is much worse than he; Georgian wrestler Kokkai, still trying to return to his early promise; and young promising low-ranker Tochiozan.
Big names not among the lead pack include all 4 Ozeki's. Chiyotaikai needs a winning record to stay at Ozeki and he's out to a 3-1 start. Kaio is also 3-1. But Koto'oshu has dropped 2 matches, and Kotomitsuki lost his first 3 matches before finally winnning one today.
Baruto has won 3 in a row after losing on day 1. Asasekiryu is 3-1, ranked at Maegashira #1.
Newly promoted to the majors, Sakaizawa is 3-1 in his first tournament in the bigs, while Ichihara, in his 2nd, seems to have hurt himself on day 1 and been forced to drop out.
In the Juryo minor leagues, Tochinoshin, the young Georgian who won the last tournament in his first tournament in that division, is tied for the lead at 4-0.
Let's hope this is a good tournament, since I'll be attending Day 11 live in Osaka!
The big finish started today with a huge match between two of the leaders, Chiyotaikai and Kotomitsuki. Kotomitsuki disappointed by losing like all the other losers who fall victim to the superlame Chiyotaikai slap attack -- i.e. taking hit after hit and doing nothing to stop it, and backing up until pushed out of the ring. Sigh.
Meanwhile, Baruto won easily with a strong performance against 3-loss Dejima. That set up the match I had wanted to see: Baruto vs. Chiyotaikai. I still have confidence Baruto can withstand the slap attack and get to Chiyotaikai's belt. We will find out tomorrow.
Hakuho rolled on, beating Aminishiki with a well-timed throw. He had a good grip on his opponent, when Aminishiki attempted a leg trip. Bad move. Hakuho didn't go down and, catching Aminishiki off-balance in the attempt, quickly threw him down.
Kaio won again today, putting him just on the edge of saving his career at 7-5. Unfortunately for him, his last 3 matches are against Hakuho, Chiyotaikai, and Kotomitsuki, and he needs to win 1 of them.
And Takamisakari has come back to the tournament and come back strong. He's won 2 in a row by getting his opponents' belts and powering them out. He's 5-2-5 and still has a chance for 8 wins, but needs to win his last 3.
In the minors, Sakaigawa leads at 11-1, but newbie Ichihara is only 1 back at 10-2.
Standings:
10-2: Hakuho, Chiyotaikai, Baruto
9-3: Kotomitsuki, Wakakirin
8-4: Dejima, Toyonoshima
7-5: Kaio, Ama, Kotoshogiku, Goeido, Toyohibiki, Wakanoho
6-6: Kisenosato, Futeno
Matches of the day: Hakuho vs. Kaio, Chiyotaikai vs. Baruto
Crazy tournament. With only 5 days to go, there are 11 wrestlers within 1 match of the lead.
Chiyotaikai blew it yesterday, flying past Tokitenku with his head down to start the match and finding himself on his face before he even realized what had happened. (What had happened was Tokitenku doing the 'ole' move.)
There was some separation among the 2-loss wrestlers, leaving only the top 4 contenders tied for the lead at 8-2. Winning yesterday were Hakuho, Kotomitsuki (with another stylish throw), and Baruto, to join Chiyotaikai at the top. Though I could hardly understand a word he said (must be that Estonian Japanese accent), Baruto seemed quite elated in an interview after his match, having won his 8th and assured that he would stay in the top ranks for the next tournament. Great smile, but I would say that Estonian dental care doesn't quite match America's.
In the opposite situation was Kaio, who dropped to 5-5, and faces demotion if he can't win 3 of his last 5 (including 1 against Hakuho and 1 against Kotomitsuki).
Miracle healer Takamisakari is returning to the tournament tomorrow. I think he still has a chance at 8 wins if he wins all the rest of his matches.
And Asashoryu has announced he'll return to Japan from exile in Mongolia at the end of this month. Can't wait to have him back for the next tournament.
Standings:
8-2: Hakuho, Kotomitsuki, Chiyotaikai, Baruto
7-3: Kotoshogiku, Dejima, Toyonoshima, Wakakirin, 3 others
6-4: Ama, Goeido, Roho, Kokkai
5-5: Kaio
3-2-5: Takamisakari
Match of the Day tomorrow: 8-2 Kotomitsuki vs. 7-3 Toyonoshima
The Kyushu tournament started Sunday. It is another tournament without the New England Patriots of Sumo, AKA Asashoryu, who is serving the 2nd of his 2-tournament suspension.
This leaves it as the other Yokozuna Hakuho's tournament to win. Of course, he had to go and make it more difficult for himself by losing on day 1 to Kotoshogiku. Actually, he hasn't looked all that great in any of his matches, but he has managed to come back and win his next 2.
Not many interesting storylines this time. Kaio is kadoban again, meaning he needs a winning record to stay at Ozeki. He lost on day 1 also, fueling more retirement talk, but he's also come back to win his next 2. He has now passed Musashimaru to take 4th place all time in career wins. Don't hold your breath for him to get 3rd place, though. He's about 40 wins back, which would probably require him to last another 4-5 tournaments in Sumo.
Chiyotaikai is out to the early lead at 3-0, while the other Ozeki's, Kotomitsuki and Koto'oshu have both lost once already.
It would be a very exciting tournament if fan favorite Takamisakari could put up a really great performance. So far, he's undefeated and looking strong. Can't say I expect it to last, but it would be fun.
One guy who's also 3-0 and could definitely keep it going is Baruto. He's back in the big leagues for this tournament (though at the bottom of the rankings) and if he can stay healthy, maybe he'll finally start his march up the rankings.
There's a newcomer to the top level named Wakanoho. He's a 19-year old Russian and he weighs almost 350 pounds. He's 2-1 and looks like he might have some skill.
Last tournament's revelation, 21-yr. old Goeido, is out to a 2-1 start.
Finally, there's a young behemoth just up to the Juryo level of Sumo named Ichihara. He's a former high school Yokozuna (on the same high school team as Goeido) and college Yokozuna and he tore through the lower levels of Sumo (so fast that his hair hasn't even grown enough to put it into a classic Sumo hairstyle). He's 3-0 in Juryo. He'll be in the majors soon and following Baruto up the rankings.
Well, we've come to the end of another exciting sumo tournament.
Of course, the news this time is all about Hakuho. Not only did he win the tournament and earn his promotion to Yokozuna (which will be officially announced tomorrow) -- he did it in true Yokozuna fashion with a dominating 15-0 performance. That included a truly epic final-day battle with Asashoryu -- a back-and-forth battle that had both wrestlers with grips on the other's belt, that ended with a strong throw from Hakuho.
Hakuho is the 69th Yokozuna in sumo history, and also the 3rd youngest ever. At 22 years, 2 months old, he just beats Takanohana by 1 month, and Asashoryu by 2. (The youngest ever were Kitanoumi and Taiho, two of the all-time greats.)
In other Summer tournament news, it ended up being a pretty mediocre tournament for Asashoryu and all the other Ozeki's. Asashoryu, especially, who lost 5 of his last 6 matches to end up at 10-5. But also Kaio and Chiyotaikai at 10-5, and Koto'oshu at a poor 9-6.
However, Kotomitsuki came up big at the end, beating Kaio and Chiyotaikai on the last 2 days, to finish 12-3. If he can win 12 or more in the next tournament, he will definitely finally get his promotion to Ozeki.
The other Sekiwake, Ama, didn't look great, but did manage to scratch out a winning 8-7 record so he can hold on to his ranking for the next tournament.
Aminishiki finished 9-6 and won the Outstanding Performance award, because his 9 wins included wins against Asashoryu, Kaio and Koto'oshu.
Takamisakari finished with a win to get up to 9-6, and he got to meet Zhang Ziyi (see picture) -- nice month.
Asasekiryu lost on the last day to Ama, but still had a great tournament at 12-3, and won the Technique Prize for his 2nd time.
Dejima also finished 12-3, while Roho and Futeno both went 10-5.
And in the minors, Baruto finished 14-1 and won the championship, and he should be back in the big leagues for the next tournament.
And now, my bold prediction for the July tournament. I think it'll be an exciting one. In fact, I predict that neither Hakuho nor Asahoryu will win it. Hakuho will have way too many distractions heading into the next tournament (learning the ropes of being a Yokozuna, plus lots of press and other functions, and oh yeah, he has a new baby). Asashoryu has been fighting from the East side in every match of every tournament for years, and he's going to have to fight from the West next tournament (I think), which I predict will screw him up just enough. And the Nagoya tournament is notorious for freak winners, so I predict another completely unexpected winner next time -- maybe Kotomitsuki or even someone like Kisenosato or Asasekiryu. Tournament starts July 8, and if you happen to be in Hawaii in a couple weeks, you can see the new Yokozuna and all the other wrestlers in an exhibition tournament.
A quick update, since I won't be updating again until Monday.
Today was a calm day in Osaka. For the first time this tournament, the Yokozuna and all the Ozeki's won their matches -- no big upsets.
Meanwhile, Kakuryu lost his first, leaving Tochiazuma all alone on top at 5-0.
5-0: Tochiazuma
4-1: Chiyotaikai, Hakuho, Kotomitsuki, Kakuryu
3-2: Asashoryu, Koto'oshu, Kisenosato, Toyonoshima, Takamisakari (3 straight wins after starting 0-2), Kokkai, Tochiozan
2-3: Kaio
Yesterday, Asashoryu got into a tie for the lead. Today, he took over sole possession of first, when he won and Tamakasuga and Tamanoshima both lost. Asashoryu has 6 tough matches left -- Kotomitsuki tomorrow, then the 5 Ozeki's. But he probably can even stand to lose one of them and still win the tournament.
His closest real competition is Chiyotaikai, at 7-2, after making Kaio look bad. Hakuho is looking strong again -- he beat Tochiazuma easily today -- but at 6-3, he's 2 back of Asashoryu. Takamisakari put up a good fight, but Koto'oshu was too much for him, and they're both also 6-3 now.
Current standings:
8-1: Asashoryu
7-2: Chiyotaikai
6-3: Koto'oshu, Hakuho, Ama, Takamisakari
5-4: Kaio, Kotomitsuki
4-5: Tochiazuma
OK, I was off by a day, but sure enough, Asashoryu has made his way to the top of the leaderboard. He has looked pretty much unbeatable since his loss on day 3, and he now stands at 7-1.
He's tied with Tamakasuga, who finally lost his first match today, and Tamanoshima, neither of whom have any chance of winning it all.
Takamisakari continues to surprise. Now 6-2, he's up against Koto'oshu tomorrow, in a bout that will prove whether he's for real or not.
The only Ozeki seriously contending now is Chiyotaikai at 6-2. Hakuho lost a 3rd match, but regained his form and sent Kaio to his 3rd loss today. Koto'oshu was doing well, but lost to little Mongolian Ama today to also drop to 5-3. And Tochiazuma's been hanging in with his knee injury, but he lost his 4th today.
Standings:
7-1: Asashoryu, Tamakasuga, Tamanoshima
6-2: Chiyotaikai, Takamisakari
5-3: Koto'oshu, Kaio, Hakuho, Kotomitsuki, Ama
4-4: Tochiazuma, Homasho
