Gospodin

And no yorikiri.

IMO the last 2-3 years are more a return to normalty. It was the 15-year reign of two exceptional rikishi before, who reduced the entire rest to second tier status. It must be quite hard to develop equally good talent if all are stopped cold once they reach the joi and have to fight Asashoryu and/or Hakuho. Personally I am pleased that this era of complete dominance is over. It should also raise the overall level of competition.

If I remember correctly, Kaio also credited his improvement in rank to stop drinking alcohol during bashos.

I really do not want to deviate, but I can‘t resist: my money‘s down that there were/are significantly less sumo masters who suffer from the effects of excessive alcohol intake during their careers than chess players. I also do not know a single sumo grandmaster who steadfastly claimed he wrestled a dead, like at least one chess grand champion did. Sorry, goodbye and see you in May.

Please be kind and allow a little most-of-the time-lurker a small, harmless portion of self-praise http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/topic/38749-haru-basho-2019-discussion-spoilers/?page=10&tab=comments#comment-386686

It seems nobody thinks Daieisho has a chance against Ichinojo. Why is this ?

...and returned the favor of henkaing to Harumafuji on the final day. Looks to me he did care what was going on at Hatsu. Whether or not the losses were intentional, which I can´t believe, he would never, ever intentionally make himself looking that terrible.

Well comments about him aside, but isn´t increased fluctuation of a great´s performance one of the foremost signs of aging ?

He did not look much better in his loss to Harumafuji the next day, easily falling for his signature HNH, I cannot remember a second instance where he did. I am more inclined to suspect an injury, or just the very rare instance of him losing his focus. That can happen even to Hakuho.

I don´t like him, tbh. He still gets his wins, but the high rankers have started to figure him out, others will follow. If he gets promoted I don´t expect him to hold that rank for long.

Just crossed my mind: I don´t like conspiracy theories at at all. That said, what does the forum think about how the relationship of his former oyakata to the organisation could influence the decision ?

Miyabiyama in 2006. 34 and 33 over four bashos, respectively. As far as I remember, the Kyokai was wary of "overpromoting" him a second time, though.

I would like to see Tochinoshin winning, but I think his chances are not good. With his injury he is not as steadfast as Ichinojo, and might be too slow to grab him.

It was Takayasu who started that thing - he moved forward as if to put his hands down and pulled back.

I think he wouldn‘t have had it easy against anybody having a morozashi on him over the entire bout.