serge_gva

It is debatable, and I think the answer to this question may depend a lot on the environment where it is asked. Maybe for a genuine sumo fan, indeed, this victory will not carry much weight. But for a sports fan in general, a comeback like this is the perfect recipe to make more history. It is like Roger Federer winning a Grand Slam again. No matter what means he uses - taking advantage of several opponents dropping out, playing on the injured side of his opponent in the final, throwing his racket at Mirka in a rage - it will be remembered by most, I think. [LATE EDIT - I admit that I started to answer before I got to the end of the topic ] Here I agree with you completely, and even more: we don't need a year, the next tournament like this will already be too much. This time, it will be nothing but a pointless #46, would it be a zensho. But considering what he managed to do after 1 year of injuries, or 4 months after an operation, I don't rule out that he could beat Terunofuji in a good old fashioned belt fight. And if he doesn't, I don't think it will tarnish his 15-0 record from July that much - to the contrary: the best way to put this win on the light side would be a style-perfect September tournament, even if it didn't end in a win. Unfortunately I'm leaning pretty much towards the intai theory as soon as the 900th win is reached

I think you are missing an important point here. This win was not simply #45, nor was it simply zensho #16. It's mostly the win that comes after a year of injury, a year in which he heard that he was more or less done, that there was little chance of him ever winning a tournament again. That he was dragging it out just to get to the Olympics... Hardly anyone would have bet on a zensho! On this forum alone, the messages were quite edifying (without being primary anti-Hakuho-ism), especially the days following his forfeits before or during the tournaments... And the icing on the cake, he was denied an Ichidai-toshiyori - which, in concrete terms for the rest of his career, may have had little impact on him, but was nonetheless, in my opinion, a very difficult blow to swallow. Moreover, to say that he would never have won without using infamous techniques, I think that remains to be seen. His first 13 bouts suggest that he had a good chance to beat Shodai in a more traditional way. With Terunofuji, it could have been more difficult, of course... But from there to give him for sure a loser on a regular bout is in my opinion a step too far. The fact that he fought like that shows that he wanted to win more than to fight honorably. On a "normal" tournament, it would have been a shame for him, considering his achievements so far. On THIS one, I don't necessarily approve, but I can understand what he showed. It was not the good ol' Hakuho coming again for victory #XX, this time deciding to do ugly sumo plus adopting a disrespectul behaviour. The guy came back from nowhere!

I'm not familiar with how the media works in Japan, but in Western countries, it's obvious that before publishing an article that says "Mr. X did this dishonest thing", the media is ethically obliged to ask for a reaction from the person implicated in the article. So the tabloid certainly contacted Asanoyama before, and then in the aftermath maybe the NSK and its heya? Of course, there is no obligation for them to detail the information they had. Asanoyama probably thought there was a slim chance that they had nothing solid and denied it...

143 kg for a 172 cm rikishi doesn't seem so bad, right? He is already much heavier than other small and fast wrestlers like Endo, Ishiura or Terutsuyoshi. He has already increased his weight by 27% from its 2015 debut. Obviously, a higher weight will help his sumo become less acrobatic and "risky", but after a certain limit, he will get into the category where his weight could start to have a negative impact on his joints, especially if it is a weight that he acquired relatively quickly and did not have at the time of his growth. Does he really need to get bigger? Can he keep his great speed and explosiveness by exceeding 150 kg? What do you think?

Some years ago it was the basis salary for a student job as cashier in a convini or waiter in a Sukiya. So nothing surprising in my opinion. What surprises me more is that a young person does this work. It seemed to me that it was rather reserved for people of a certain age (at the time, young people were more into handkerchief distribution, but we see less of them). Compared to the price level in Japan, I also find it low.

But he will be thrown directly to makushita if he scores 2-13, then 0-15 in january, no?

I don't know the place, but threatening or rainy weather is the worst thing that can happen when canyoning. A thunderstorm at the headwaters of the river can cause a violent flash flood that can have disastrous consequences (unfortunately this happens quite frequently). I know, of course, that it's certainly more complicated than that from a legal point of view, but if things really happened as these witnesses say, there comes a time when you have to recognize that activities in the mountains are subject to natural risks. If an adult decides to take them, he or she must assume a minimum of responsibility. Japan is already so reluctant to let people exercise their free will and make exceptions... I may stray a bit from the subject, but trials of this type, sumo star involved or not, lead to regrettable drifts that gradually lead to de-responsibilization of people in the mountains (or in outdoor sports) and a disneylandisation of this space of freedom.

Any ideas why Chiyonoumi (ms2, 4-3 >> J14w) is under Nishikifuji (J13w, 7-8 >> J13w)? 4-3 at ms2 is not great, but it is not uncommon to climb to J12 or J13 if the circumstances are appropriate (it happend 9 times in the last 10 years, last time in 2016 when Ryuden regained sekitori status from jonokuchi after his injury). And the circumstances seems to be appropriate here, since Nishikifuji with 7-8 should logically be ranked J14. Where I am wrong here?

If I count correctly, 11 wrestlers have already missed at least one bout. It's almost 25% of the Makuuchi It leaves you wondering, because with the Covid, tournaments are less frequent, whereas it was often thought that exhibition tournaments, in particular, encouraged injuries by multiplying the fights...

My take on it: "A bout is not an invitation to dance, you idiot!" or: "Your bout was more like a f** invitation to dance, you idiot!"

I'm not too worried about him. We should not forget that he had the toughest program during these first 10 days, fighting all wrestlers between Y and M2. His sumo is not particularly bad. He could even finish with a 5-10 if he's not too stressed by this 1st victory that escapes him. Edit 30.07: His sumo is was not particularly bad... Hum, I jinxed him

Did he apply for Japanese citizenship? If not, with Arawashi, that's two Mongolians in a row without kabu, even though they meets the numbers.

If I summarize, we have 5 ex-sekitori retirement compared to the last tournament: > Toyonoshima > Tochiōzan > Tokushinhō > Sōkokurai > Seirō I know we had a tournament cancellation, but still, that's a lot... With Gōeidō and Arawashi after Hatsu basho, that's 7 ex-sekitori before the start of the July tournament. How does this number compare with recent years?

It's amazing how reluctant they are, currently, to put Makushita promotees high up the Banzuke. 5 years ago, Asabenkei did Ms1 > J9 with 6 wins. Between 2000 and 2005, 6 consecutive Ms1 with 6 wins went between J9/J10. And now, J14 8-7, J7 4-11 and J10 7-8 is better than Ms1 6-1?! How can that be explained?

So we went from a demonstration sport integrated into the Olympics (at the very beginning), to a shabby two-day jungyo for tourists? It is rather disappointing