Kajiyanosho

Wow, this is interesting. I wish there was a ranking of 'number of bets lost for just one bout'.

Great news! Odd choice of dates, though. The tournament coincides with the start of the football World Cup (the inaugural match is on the 11th) - that might well impact media exposure. At this point I'm hoping for Colosseum 2027!

Thanks for the stats @Athenayama and @Takanorappa. I think there's a small mistake in the Hall Of Fame. My name is there with two different spellings, but I think I won Aki 23 and Nagoya 24, while I arrived 3rd in Kyushu 23 and Hatsu 24. On Takanorappa's site, however, I have three 1st places: Aki 23, Kyushu 23, Hatsu 24. Not sure what's the final score is! Thank you!

Can't miss it this year! 1-5: Pandaazuma 6-10: Susanoo 11-20: Kajiyanosho [I would go for Oskahanada, Gonzaburow or other strong players, but I'm picking myself in case I miraculously do well again] 21-40: Joaoyama 41-80: Joputosu [my "recruit" from the Italianozeki community - very strong player] 81-120: Mariohana 121-200: Sakura 201+: Chelseayama

I've seen the invitation yesterday and it came from a PR agency working for the organisers Askonas Holt and / or the Royal Albert Hall. Several mistakes in just a few lines. The invitation said that the "tournamet (sic) will host the most accomplished and elite sumos (sic.), including those who have reached the top rank of Yokozuna". Sumos! The invitation also indicated that both Kitanowaka and Fukutsuumi will take part in the tournament. If it will feature Makuuchi rikishi, Fukutsuumi definitely won't be there.

There will be a lot of eye-rolling for sure. Possibly even more than that - have a look at how Channel 4 covered it today: https://www.channel4.com/news/sumo-returns-to-london-after-more-than-thirty-years I'll try to get involved in the BBC online coverage next year (I'm the co-author of this article), to at least stir it away from factual mistakes and the usual clichés. But generally media coverage will be jokes about rikishi's diet and all that

I believe it's at 7:30pm Wednesday to Saturday. 2pm on the last day.

There was some incorrect information in the official invitation to today's event (which I hadn't seen until today) - the line about this being only the second time ever a sumo tournament is held outside Japan comes from there. It's understandable that journalists don't fact-check the event organisers. I had to explain that the winner isn't 'crowned Yokozuna' and the 'grand champion' bit isn't my wording, but I had to pick my battles. I would say that more than a deliberate attempt to create drama it's just not much time and incentive for journalists to get things completely right. At least in direct my experience. And I'm very excited about it! I won't be able to visit Japan until at least 2026, so this is a great opportunity for me and other fans after all - even if it's not quite the same as when the real titles and rankings are at stake.

This needed a huge amount of fact checking and corrections but hopefully the end result isn't too bad! Sumo Grand Tournament back in London after 34 years - BBC News It took quite a while to help journalists understand the difference between given name, shikona, elder stock name, rank, JSA title etc.!

Thanks John. Much appreciated.

Thank you! I wouldn't expect it to be open to the public. I work in news and I'd be interested in flagging it to colleagues who cover sport or London events in case (as I suspect) it wasn't on their radar. I was just wondering whether Japanese media had reported anything specific about the news conference (e.g. at the embassy / Japan House etc). Not a big deal, though. It's mostly personal excitement and FOMO ahead of this long awaited return!

Sorry, I meant to ask this: does anyone know when and where *the news conference* is going to be on the 4th? I know that details about actual event are not known yet.

I read that there's a news conference in London on Wednesday. Did they release any information about when and where it's going to be?

There's still a lot of movement in the top 10. Will Oyama make the podium? It would be quite a climb. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/20343630/

Here's the animated yet gelatinous Masters race. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/20343630/ It's more exciting at the bottom - it's not over until I can hope to score 100+ points on Odd on Senshuraku...