Kaikitsune Makoto 210 Posted March 8, 2003 Shonichi comes and no dodging away now. Kinkaiyama-Akinoshima Kinkaiyama's recurring yoyoism is better than staying in juryo or makushita. Akinoshima is losing power basho by basho and only a miracle will save him from retirement in very near future. No wonder he loses to Roho in training as he simply doesn't exert pressure anymore. There are no-one in makuuchi he can outmuscle. He gets a basic yotsu-rikishi on shonichi but Kinkaiyama does have surprising strength despite his lackluster sumo. If Akinoshima resorts to henka on shonichi, I dare to claim he will retire before the end of basho. He also has suffered from some kind of foot injury prior to basho and Otsukasa ( he beats Otsukasa) is back in juryo now. Kinkaiyama should be stronger and if Aki can't trick him into slapdown, this will be the first loss of many for the tired veteran. Asasekiryu-Buyuzan Asasekiryu is simply the best slap-down technician of some time. Buyuzan is very suitable victim for those pull/slapdowns. Asasekiryu possesses also mature skill and some awesome defeat escape abilities. Trained a lot with Kaio before the basho and while couldn't beat him, he still had a very convinicing training foe bundle (Shoryu, Kaio, Taikai) prior to basho. Buyuzan has lost some stability with his injured knee and shows stumble bum features more and more. Asasekiryu is a clear favourite with his slapdown skills and overall quality over one-dimensional Buyuzan. Aminishiki-Miyabiyama Miyabiyama's brave efforts in wanting to fight Asashoryu despite fractured ankle jeopardised his makuuchi status but evidently he is ok and ready to hold his own at this low level even with shaky ankles. Aminishiki isn't a very optimal foe for Miya as both their encounters have resulted in Miya diving off the clay and the agility of Ami bears a great risk for shaky-ankle Miya. Of course if Miya manages to keep Ami in front of him, it will be easy oshidashi for him. Difficult start for Miya in any case. Kasugao-Kyokushuzan Mr Powerful Hip faces birthday boy Shuzan (30 today). Somehow Korean wrestler should be able to deal with Shuzan's tricks and since Kasugao's occasional tachi-ai cautiousness isn't going to be too fatal against the non-existent tachi-ai by Shuzan, Kasugao should have the edge. Strength-wise Kasugao is in his own class compared to Shuzan. Interesting to see the tactics. In Hatsu Shuzan got left uwate and launched a neat throw. They have trained together quite a lot so they know each other's styles. Dejima-Kotonowaka Reports from training indicate Dejima's de-ashi resembles that of his peak year 1999. His feet and calves are in much better shape now and tachi-ai had huge power occasionally in Haru. Kotonowaka is very easy target for low aiming pushes so Deji can blast to him with full steam and Koto should be backpedaling. Wakanosato-Shimotori Shimotori prefers left uwate but Wakanosato most likely wants right uwate and probably gets that. Shouldn't be a problem in that scenario for Waka t o start with easy win. However if Shimotori gets left uwate he can generate a lot of power and might have a chance to upset Waka. Takamisakari-Kotomitsuki Kotomitsuki's elbows are in spotlight as some cartilage chip was removed in operation and he can't have worse elbows than he had in Hatsu. Takamisakari has once again trained with the cream of ozumo and even had 10 training bouts against mageless men inte magel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoavoshimaru 0 Posted March 9, 2003 Takamisakari-Kotomitsuki This is the one I'm most looking forward to of the shonichi bouts. Takamisakari's traditional weakness are big rikishi, and maybe training against Akebono will help that. We'll see tomorrow! (Exclamation) (Looks around...) (Jumping of joy...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
