Senpai

Who are those all that know that Osh and Bart are friends or even so good buddies that Osh would throw a bout for him?

Delfi is not very good in writing but they meant it more like "SUPER - Baruto beats another .."

Sanyaku 1) Aminishiki couldn't save his position and lost to Kakuryu after a long slap-fest. 2) Kisenosato also couldn't save his spot but should manage to snatch komusubi west spot ahead of Takekaze. 3) Kotoshogiku lost a slim chance as he had for dropping only to komusubi if he had ended basho with 7-8 and will instead drop to maegashira 1 to share it with Takekaze. 4) Kakuryu made it to sekiwake again beating Aminishiki on senshuraku. 5) Baruto will be once again sekiwake east, place where he belongs. Will he continue his run for ozekihood?. 6) Kotomitsuki handed Kaio much needed win as predicted. 7) Will Chiyotaikai make it back with getting KK in Kyushu? We'll see soon enough. 8) Goeido took back what belong to him and will be back as komusubi in Kyushu. Good luck to all and I'll try to back in Kyushu hoping that my summaries are welcome!

Promotion/Demotion between Juryo and Makuuchi Todays bouts gave us lot of answers. Some rikishis managed to save themselves and other had to aknowledge their defeat to fate. Kokkai who struggled in low-maegashira ended basho with a third consecutive win to make it 8-7. Toyohibiki secured his position by taking his 6th win against Kasugao. Shimotori saved his makuuchi status sending Masatsukasa packing. Mokonami also secured his position by taking care of our ginboshi winner Shotenro pushing him even further down the ranks with only 2 wins. M12wTamaasuka in other hand has to wait for a while but I think that his 6th win today is enough to help him drop only as far as M16e as replacing him with J5 Hakuba with 9-6 looks pretty big stretch for me. Last time it has happened was 6 years ago and lot of high ranked juryo rikishi with high results and maegashira 15w the lowest rank. J1e Tamawashi 11-4 who won Juryo yusho will replace M15w Futeno 5-10 who was expected to gambarize in low-maegashira but failed to do so. J2e Kimurayama 9-6 will replace M12w Tochinonada 4-11 who ended basho with a win over Tosayutaka. J2w Yamamotoyama 9-6 will replace M16e Masatsukasa 7-8 who had after a 6-2 start on first week a catastrophic second week with only 1 win.

Promotion/Demotion between Makushita and Juryo After today I would say that Hoshikaze's win over Surugatsukasa and 7-8 record made only 2 spots open for makushita promotees. For Sokokurai it's d

Better late then never. We have yet again reached the point where people are thinking about who's going up and who's falling down. So, we have got to the end of 14th day of the Aki basho which has offered us one ginboshi, powerless Chiyo, top-form Bart and not so convincing Hak. Unlike from Nagoya Kotooshu has had a weak basho and Asa has shined altough not like in his prime. Last day will propably give us a big kettei-sen show. Makuuchi play-off between Asa and Hak if younger yokozuna can win his fellow-countryman on last day. Major clash in juryo if Tamawashi will lose tomorrow. And not to forget the all-foreigner kettei-sen in makushita between Gagamaru and Kaisei. All that in mind we can say that it has been a pretty eventful and intresting basho. But let's give a look to others who are fighting for being promoted and those who are in the brink of demotion. Promotion to Juryo In top makushita we had all rikishi capable to achieve promotion. Amongst them lot of ex-juryos and sumo-hopefuls who still haven't made the next big step. But having so many good rikishi in close range means that there won't be enough wins for all of them. Suprisingly after day 12 only handful of them had fallen off the promotion wagon. Notably Fukao, Takekabuto and Kanbayashi. After today we can congratulate only 1 of them and even that isn't 100% sure. Ms1e Kotoyutaka 4-3 who made a big step forward on day 12 and raised his chances by winning Tokushino Ms1w Sokokurai 3-3 who still has to fight against Sotairyu in juryo to get his KK altough it might still not be enough and we'll see a last bashos reply Ms2w Miyamoto 5-2 who might got half-way towards promotion today beating Sotairyu in possible direct exchange bout Ms10e Gagamaru 7-0 who finished with 7-0 result second time in his career (and possible second yusho) and should give him the promotion that he missed out in march this year Couple of days ago there were more rikishi fighting for promotion but as there will be maximum of 3 demotions then Takanoyama was tshuridashied out of the race by Kitazakura, Kaonishiki losing to Matsutani today and finishing with 3-4 and I believe that Miyamotos win today pushed Surugatsukasa (even with win tomorrow; 5-2 at the moment), Ryuho (5-2), Nakanokuni (4-2 at the moment) and Hoshihikari (3-3 at the moment) overboard also. Demotion to Makushita Already in the start of the second week we could see that there will be shortage of demotees (not that it would be a bad thing but neither is it good I believe). Only Tokushino, Sotairyu and Hoshikaze were showing bad sumo in lower part of juryo but in second week they started to fight for keeping the paycheck. Hoshikaze has almost managed to achieve it (customary it would already be enough to secure the spot with 6 wins under the belly in E12 but it might not be enough this time) but has to win his last bout tomorrow to secure it Sotairyu have to win his last also or just hope that his rank will protect him from dropping out. Tokushino in other hand is in the brink of demotion and if usually the 6th win would save him then in Aki 2009 it won't be enough as Gagamaru needs a spot. So, we can say that nothing is clear yet altough maximum of 3 demotions and minimum of 0 (but I would be really suprised if they would not make at least one spot open for makushita promotee) is a fact. J12w Tokushinho 5-9 who couldn't make a real expression in juryo is first to fall J12e Hoshikaze 6-8 who has to win the last bout tomorrow to secure his place in juryo - propably! J10w Sotairyu 5-9 who had a very weak first week but has managed to get some wins now Promotion to Makuuchi In promotion zone to makuuchi we have 3 (no more and no less) clear candidates who all wanna get back to makuuchi. J1e Tamawashi 10-4 has already secured his promotion replacing Tochinonada J2e Kimurayama 9-5 has propably also earned his ticket to makuuchi replacing Futeno but can lose it if Yamamotoyama wins and he loses tomorrow while Masatsukasa clinches KK J2w Yamamotoyama 9-5 who has the weakest hand if we would play poker and has to hope that Kimurayama won't get suitable river or Masatsukasa will fold Demotion to Juryo We have 2 sure demotees. Will there be 3? Well that we are going to see tomorrow when Masatsukasa is fighting against Shimotori to make his last effort to save himself. M16e Masatsukasa 7-7 sure demotion if loses tomorrow M15w Futeno 5-9 sure demotion after heartless tournament M12w Tochinonada 3-11 sure demotion Only question I have is what happens when Tamaasuka will lose his last match and Masatsukasa wins. Will Tamaasuka be in danger then or is he high enough? Sanyaku Before todays matches there was question in the air what happens if both Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku would manage to get KK? Propably we would have seen 3 sekiwake next basho as I don't think that they could deny Baruto place amongst sekiwake. But after Kotoshogikus loss today we don't have this question but have bunch of others; will Aminishiki save his status and raise to sekiwake after 2-7 start this basho?; will Kisenosato win tomorrow against Baruto and save his sekiwake east spot?; will Kakuryu make it to sekiwake?; will Kotomitsuki give Kaio that last win?; will Chiyotaikai make it back with getting KK in Kyushu? All the best to You all and I hope that I will be back with the same subject in Hatsu!

Altough The Zone between makuuchi and juryo was a bit complicated I'd say that we can lock it up too. Even tough Masatsukasa won Futeno I don't think it will give him promotion as Tamawashi took easy win against Hokutoriki and ended the tournament with 5-10 record and Futeno should be high enough to have falling room. With Tamawashi winning his 5th I think that he will hold his makuuchi rank and drops Yamamotoyama out of makuuchi as even tough Hokutoriki lost today and ends with 11-4 it should be enough to get ticket to makuuchi. Dejima's retirement and Wakakoyu and Yamamotoyama dropping to juryo will give us three empty spots that will be filled with Wakanosato, Tamaasuka and Hokutoriki. PS. I'd give 1,99% propability that 1) they won't drop neither Yamamotoyama or Tamawashi and leave Hokutoriki into juryo with his 11-4 record. It's a long shot but still a possibility; 0,01% propability that 2) they will drop both Yamamotoyama and Tamawashi or Futeno and raise Masatsukasa along with Hokutoriki.

Even tough Sokokurai won against Kotoyutaka we can now lock the juryo promotion/demotion zone (without considering possible retirements we don't know about at the moment) without Sokokurai as both Daishoumi and Toyozakura reached 7-8 record today giving both Sagatsukasa and Fukuoka their 4th losses. But thanks for Sokokurais win and Dejimas retirement - Fukuoka is the lucky loser and will still get the promotion with 4-3 from Ms4e. Hoshihikari, Kitazakura, Kotokuni and Kotoyutaka will drop to makushita. Sagatsukasa, Sotairyu, Hoshikaze, Tokushinho and Fukuoka will raise to juryo.

After a long absence I'll try to come back with a subject I have wrote many times before. So, we have got to the end of 14th day of the Nagoya basho with lots of intresting bouts, some suprising wins and some not so good losses behind us. Hakuho on his way for his 11th championship title being chased by suprisingly well-perfoming Kotooshu. LAst day will show if there is kettei-sen needed or not. Juryo already won by veteran Wakanosato and makushita waiting for a last day big play-off involving 8 rikishi. All that in mind we can't say it is or has been a boring basho. But let's leave the yusho race aside and give a look to others who are fighting for being promoted and those who are in the brink of demotion. Promotion to Juryo In makushita we had a lots of promising not so young and not so new rikishi in the top of the banzuke. Amongst them georgian Gagamaru, two chinamen Nakanokuni and Sokokurai, Fukuoka (former Okinoumi), mongol Hoshikaze, heavy-weight Tokushinho and others. After day 11 only handful of them had still a chance for promotion. After today we can congratulate 4 of them. Ms1w Sotairyu 6-1 who secured his promotion already days ago will have highest rank amongst promotees after steady raise in makushita ranks Ms1e Sagatsukasa 4-2 who still has one match to fight against Toyozakura but whatever the result is going to be he can already congratulate himself for returning back to juryo after last bashos misfortune Ms2e Hoshikaze 4-3 who got his promotion on day 12th in direct exchange bout with a uwatenage win against another mongol Hoshihikari Ms2w Tokushinho 4-3 could breath easy after Dejimas retirement announcement and will be 4th promotion from makushita Before I saw tomorrows torikumi I thought that there is only one slot still in game and that would give us a exchange bout in the last day between Kotoyutaka and Ms4e Fukuoka but seems that torikumi makers think that Ms4w Sokokurai is worth a try and put him against Daishoumi. Altough I still believe that promoting Sokokurai with 4-3 (if he wins tomorrow) from Ms4w would be excessive decision and that they won't do it. But for Fukuoka who was in the lead group after day 7 and saw his promotion hopes fall apart after that with 2 losses can now still hope for a lucky break. Demotion to Makushita We didn't have many demotions candidates after mid-basho but those who were, were pretty sure ones. Before the first week ended we could predict that Kotokuni and Kitazakura will fight against demotion and soon Hoshihikari joined the unlucky group. Most of their wins came on week 1. Kotoyutaka had a weak start on second week and also was threathened with demotion. Sakaizawa who missed the first week was fighting for his place starting with 6 losses already under the belly. Today we can say that J8e Sakaizawa won the battle by beating Wakatenro today with a decent yorikiri win altough still in zone, J14w Kotoyutaka can secure his position if he can take the third consecutive win tomorrow against Sokokurai and finish with 8-7 record. Sadly next three gentleman are already secured their demotion. J14e Kotokuni 1-13 who got his only win this far on day 1 J13w Kitazakura 3-11 who will go back to makushita and start thinking about retirement after another disasterous basho in juryo J13e Hoshihikari 4-10 who started basho well but then just started to fade away (5th consecutive make-koshi in juryo) Promotion to Makuuchi In promotion zone to makuuchi we have let's say 4 rikishi with Wakanosato, Hokutoriki, Tamaasuka and Masatsukasa who all wanna get back to where they hopefully belong. I would say that only J3e Masatsukasa will have to wait till tomorrow or even till the new banzuke will be released to see if he'll be back in business. I'd say 80/20 if he wins tomorrow and Tamawashi loses; 10/90 if he wins and Tamawashi also wins; no way if he will lose to Futeno on senshuraku. J6w Wakanosato 13-1 has already secured his promotion replacing Wakakoyu J1w Tamaasuka 10-4 has also earned his ticket to makuuchi for a second time in his career after a long struggle in between makushita and juryo J4e Hokutoriki 11-3 who started basho well and was on the sure road to makuuchi must now not only hope for his strenght but also hope for Tamawashi to lose and banzuke makers to think that 4-11 result from maegashira 11 ranks is enough to demote rikishi to juryo, but I would give him 90/10 propability for promotion Demotion to Juryo We have 2 sure facts. Firstly we know that already 3-4 days ago there were 2 sure demotions. Secondly that there are two rikishi in the maegashira 11 rank that have awful records, both have 4-10 and tomorrow one of them will have 4-11 and the other one might have 4-11 record. I would say one of them will be surely demoted and the other one will be spared. I'll give it a 30/70 chance that neither of them will be demoted or both will be demoted. But that's just me and I have made a false conclusion before! M16e Wakakoyu 4-10 sure demotion M13w Dejima 2-2-10 has announced his retirement after getting make-koshi and result that would had surely demote him to juryo M11e Yamamotoyama 4-3-7 and will end this tournament with 4-4-7 record, had a decent first week without a hint that he will end in demotion zone but 3 consecutive losses and injury brought us here. If Tamawashi loses tomorrow I'd say Yamamotoyama will drop to the end of makuuchi but if Tamawashi wins then he will be replaced by Hokutoriki. Even if Tamawashi loses he can't be sure. M11w Tamawashi 4-10 record would be demotion worth but he can take his 5th win tomorrow and parry the demotion but it will still be a lucky strike if he stays Futeno who was also in the zone but made his day by grabbing a 5th win from Tamawashi today. Sanyaku With both Kakuryu and Kyokutenho having 9 losses already we have only two things to argue about - that is who will get east and who will get west komusubi slot Baruto or Aminishiki and how big is the possibility that if Bart wins Kotoshogiku on last day one of them (Baruto or Aminishiki) will be ahead of Kotoshogiku in Aki banzuke? All the best to You all and I hope that I will be back with the same subject before 12th day of Aki!

I would call the Hakuho-Baruto match today the best bout of this basho at the moment! Yokozuna had to work hard to keep his clean record.

Have been in Tokyo visiting Bart last 2-3 weeks and I'm pretty sure he won't come to Estonia. Well never say never but it's almost 100% sure. Sadly as I come back to Estonia just before the World Championships and would be extreamly happy if he would come back with me too.

Bart invited me to Tokyo so I'm watching the tournament also being there propably all 15 days. First two days have been fun. Will go back home in 5th or 6th october to get back just before the World Sumo Championships in Rakvere. All the best to all of You in Tokyo watching the tournament!

Well new komusubi Bart made some training sessions with Kotooshu and Asashoryu in Hokkaido before going to Mongolia. Don't know the results against them but he said that it went well if not count the hurting elbow after some bouts against yokozuna.

After today my guess is: From makushita there will be 4 promotions to juryo - Bushuyama (4-3), Wakakoyu (5-2), Asofuji (5-2) and yusho winner Daiyubu (7-0). Juryo demotees will be Hochiyama (2-13), Shunketsu (3-12), Hokutokuni (6-9) and Tosayutaka (6-9). From juryo there will be 6 promotions to makuuchi - Tosanoumi (10-5), Hakurozan (8-7), Kotokasuga (8-7), Hakuba (8-7), Tochinoshin (9-6) and Tamanoshima (10-5). Demotees from makuuchi will be Ichihara (0-15), Kaiho (4-11), Wakakirin (6-9), Sakaizawa (3-12), Otsukasa (5-10) and Ryuo (5-10). And only swap in sanyaku ranks will be Takekazes replacement by Asasekiryu.

Did jun-yusho went for sharing between Bart and Taikai or how kyokai resolves situation when two rikishi share second position?