New Egyptian recruit- Oosunaarashi

[Kintamayama 42,781]

A 19 year old Egyptian kid Abdel Rahman Alaa Eldin Mohamed Ahmed (1.89/150) has arrived in Japan and is "job-hunting", going for keiko at some heyas. Yesterday, he came to Nishikido beya and trained with Ryuujinsakari and Kazafuzan from Makushita. Result? 27-1!!! This is exciting on many levels, as we may soon discover. He started sumo at 16 and has won the bronze medal twice in international meets. He seems to be the real deal, using tsuppari and yotsu equally effectively. "His sumo is really good. He is unknown so this is interesting. If he starts doing basic keiko he'll become even stronger," mused the salty one. He has already done keiko at Ooshima and Michinoku since arriving on August 28th. "I am grateful that I was allowed to participate in keiko sessions. Sumo is not a sport-it's a way of life. My favorite rikishi is Takanohana Oyakata," he said. There are currently 8 heya without foreigners. He hasn't given himself a deadline for finding a heya. "If I don't make it this time, I'll try again. I won't give up!" he declared.

This guy must have great connections to be able to join keiko sessions. We as members of this forum should be rooting for him. That's all I can divulge at the moment..

And this..

Edited June 23, 2012 by Kintamayama

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

Edited September 6, 2011 by Otokonoyama

[Fay 1,677]

I'm crossing my fingers for him, a nice and funny guy!

[Kintamayama 42,781]

Photo- he already has a private masseuse..:

Edited September 6, 2011 by Kintamayama

[Asashosakari 17,637]

A 19 year old Egyptian kid Abdel Rahman Alaa Eldin Mohamed Ahmed (1.89/150) has arrived in Japan and is "job-hunting", going for keiko at some heyas. Yesterday, he came to Nishikido beya and trained with Ryuujinsakari and Kazafuzan from Makushita. Result? 27-1!!! This is exciting on many levels, as we may soon discover. He started sumo at 16 and has won the bronze medal twice in international meets.

That means one of them was in his first year of doing sumo ---> Junior World Championships 2008 Open weight bronze

(At last, a justification for spending hours typing up those results...)

Edited September 6, 2011 by Asashosakari

[Kintamayama 42,781]

Nishi, how did Boody do against Wakamishou? Great excitement, getting the two hottest guys today in one frame..

[Asashosakari 17,637]

Some people leave their heart in San Francisco, but where did you leave your neck, John? :-) Seriously, many thanks for the inside views! (Might we hope for a scan of your DY article tomorrow in case it doesn't go up online?)

And let the speculating begin!

There are currently 8 heya without foreigners. He hasn't given himself a deadline for finding a heya. "If I don't make it this time, I'll try again. I won't give up!" he declared.

Isn't it 10, or am I forgetting about something/somebody?

Arashio, Dewanoumi, Isenoumi, Matsugane, Michinoku, Nakamura, Oguruma, Otake, Shibatayama, Takadagawa

Suppose Arashio and Oguruma are a bit iffy with the Sokokurai and Hoshikaze lawsuits. And Nakamura surely won't change his stance now, so that might be 7 left.

Otake or Takadagawa would be my guess...

Edit: BTW - his language skills? Some English obviously per the thread Kinta linked, but does he speak some Japanese already?

Edited September 6, 2011 by Asashosakari

[Kintamayama 42,781]

Otake or Takadagawa would be my guess...

I just checked Takadagawa, and they had a whole string of rikishi from Taiwan. Of the 9 foreigners in total, 8 were from Taiwan (between 1986 and 1990). The only un-Taiwanese was Maenoyuu. Was the former Oyakata a closet Chinese?

[madorosumaru 7]

I just checked Takadagawa, and they had a whole string of rikishi from Taiwan. Of the 9 foreigners in total, 8 were from Taiwan (between 1986 and 1990). The only un-Taiwanese was Maenoyuu. Was the former Oyakata a closet Chinese?

Former Takadagawa Oyakata (erstwhile Ozeki Maenoyama) was a closet Korean. Zainichi 在日 (Koreans in Japan) organizations list him among the many former sekitori of Korean origin in Ozumo. His last name was changed from Kaneshima to Nakaya to Shimizu 金島→中矢→清水. Kaneshima contains the kanji 金, a tell-tale sign, since it is the surname Kim in Korean.

Edited September 6, 2011 by madorosumaru

[Kintamayama 42,781]

Excellent!!! So we'll be seeing him in January?

Edited September 6, 2011 by Kintamayama

[Jakusotsu 5,294]

Are there no proofreaders at the DY? :-)

[Kintamayama 42,781]

A possible change in shikona plan. Sunaarashi (cool shikona in itself) may become Oosunaarashi. He went for keiko at Magaki yesterday and was 4-8 but the Oyakata was not worried. "I want to make his dream come true," he said. "I want to become a Yokozuna," said Sheikh yer Boody.

Ootake Oyakata and The Kid:

Edited September 8, 2011 by Kintamayama

[kuroimori 1,634]

A possible change in shikona plan. Sunaarashi (cool shikona in itself) may become Oosunaarashi. He went for keiko at Magaki yesterday and was 4-8 but the Oyakata was not worried. "I want to make his dream come true," he said. "I want to become a Yokozuna," said Sheikh yer Boody.

Ootake Oyakata and The Kid:

Nice shikona indeed, but (beware! oyaji-gyagu ahead!) he could also go with the shikona

横砂

and reach his dream to become "yokozuna" much faster... :-D

Edited September 8, 2011 by kuroimori

[Kintamayama 42,781]

No. He will start living in the heya from Oct 1st and with the new "half year or so" restriction on foreigners will spend that time studying Japanese (which he doesn't speak at all now) and sumo. Nov and Jan basho will be part of that period so he will do maezumo in Osaka.

Papers are now saying he will do maezumo in May and will do the check-ups in March.

Oyakata on his back already?

Edited September 8, 2011 by Kintamayama

[byrns 0]

Was Osunaarashi was supposed to be in mae-zumo this basho?

http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?r=11987

No. He will start living in the heya from Oct 1st and with the new "half year or so" restriction on foreigners will spend that time studying Japanese (which he doesn't speak at all now) and sumo. Nov and Jan basho will be part of that period so he will do maezumo in Osaka.

Papers are now saying he will do maezumo in May and will do the check-ups in March.

Oyakata on his back already?

[Yubinhaad 11,046]

Was Osunaarashi was supposed to be in mae-zumo this basho?

Foreign deshi spend two basho ranked in mae-zumo, actually participating only in the second of those, as you can see from Takakasuga's profile, to take one example.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Yubinhaad

[Bealzbob 0]

0-0-3. What happened?

[Asashosakari 17,637]

0-0-3. What happened?

Entertainment visa acquisition, as Yubinhaad alluded to.

[Bealzbob 0]

You'd think he shouldn't appear in the maezumo results at all then if he wasn't allowed to participate. Ho hum.

[Doitsuyama 1,161]

You'd think he shouldn't appear in the maezumo results at all then if he wasn't allowed to participate. Ho hum.

It's my policy to have the first basho for all rikishi as the mae-zumo basho wheter they participate or not. Makes some things easier than having them just banzuke-gai. In the end I decided that it's not that important to differentiate if they couldn't participate in mae-zumo because of physical problems, mental problems, the oyakata decided so or the NSK decided it. Fact is this is his first basho and he wasn't in mae-zumo, so his record is 0-0-3.

[Sashohitowa 6]

Actually, is he listed somewhere? If he is not on the banzuke, and does not participate in mae-zumo, then what makes it this basho to be his first one?

[Doitsuyama 1,161]

Actually, is he listed somewhere? If he is not on the banzuke, and does not participate in mae-zumo, then what makes it this basho to be his first one?

Come on, you should know better than that. This basho is officially his hatsu dohyo and will count toward his official total number of basho. He is actually listed in the NSK rikishi pages between the other rikishi. He took part in the official shin-deshi kensa where his height and weight were measured.

What more do you need?

[byrns 0]

Thanks for the info. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then again many things in Ozumo baffle me. (Whatever above, it is funny...)

Edited January 24, 2012 by byrns

[Asashosakari 17,637]

This basho is officially his hatsu dohyo and will count toward his official total number of basho.

I'll have to nitpick this part: While his Kyokai profile currently shows "January, 2012" as his hatsu-dohyo, this will almost certainly be adjusted/fixed/fudged to March 2012, as has happened to other recent foreign recruits, e.g. Takakasuga (shindeshi kensa Nagoya 2011, acknowledged hatsu-dohyo now Aki 2011).

[Bealzbob 0]

You'd think he shouldn't appear in the maezumo results at all then if he wasn't allowed to participate. Ho hum.

It's my policy to have the first basho for all rikishi as the mae-zumo basho wheter they participate or not. Makes some things easier than having them just banzuke-gai. In the end I decided that it's not that important to differentiate if they couldn't participate in mae-zumo because of physical problems, mental problems, the oyakata decided so or the NSK decided it. Fact is this is his first basho and he wasn't in mae-zumo, so his record is 0-0-3.

Don't get me wrong. That wasn't meant to be a criticism of you in any way. It was more a criticism of the NSK. He was no more a rikishi in this basho than I was.