59th High School Sumo Usa Tournament (2017-9-3)

[mikawa 1,794]

第59回選抜高校相撲宇佐大会

Individual Competition

Winner - Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔), Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama)

Runner-Up - Naya Konosuke (納谷 幸之介), Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama)

Semi-Finals - Amarusana (アマルサナー), Tottori Johoku High School (Tottori)
Semi-Finals - Ishioka Mikiya (石岡 弥輝也), Tottori Johoku High School (Tottori)

 

Team Competition

Winner - Buntoku High School (Kumamoto)

Runner-Up - Niigata Kaiyo High School (Niigata)

Semi-Finals - Tottori Johoku High School (Tottori)
Semi-Finals - Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama)

 

Videos

Individual Final - Naya Konosuke (納谷 幸之介) vs Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔)

 

 

Team Quarter-Final #1 - Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) vs Buntoku High School (Kumamoto)
Team Quarter-Final #2 - Tottori Johoku High School (Tottori) vs Hakata High School (Fukuoka)
Team Quarter-Final #3 - Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) vs Kanagawa Kenritsu Mukainookakogyo High School (Ishikawa)
Team Quarter-Final #4 - Niigata Kaiyo High School (Niigata) vs Sanbongi Agriculture High School (Aomori)

 

Team Semi-Final #1 - Buntoku High School (Kumamoto) vs Tottori Johoku High School (Tottori)
Team Semi-Final #2 - Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) vs Niigata Kaiyo High School (Niigata)

 

Team Final - Buntoku High School (Kumamoto) vs Niigata Kaiyo High School (Niigata)

 

Comments

7 years ago, when the strong and skilful Saito Daisuke first appeared at Wanpaku, he did really well to reach the semi-finals (despite having caught a cold prior to the tournament), but lost out to the then unbeatable future monster Toma Tsuguto. 2 years ago, Saito Daisuke would repay the favour by knocking out Toma Tsuguto at the Middle School Championships. Since then, Saito has gone from strength to strength, and has now claimed the Usa Tournament with a splendid throw in the final. Naya Konosuke, who is Yokozuna Taiho's grandson, also did well in the tournament, and helped his team, Saitama Sakae, to a semi-final finish.

The Kumamoto Curse (where teams from Kumamoto always seem to finish second) has now well and truly been lifted, as 2017 has given them the Hakuho Cup team title, the Middle School Student Championships team title, and now the Usa Tournament team title. It helped to have a former Middle School Yokozuna (Kusano Naoya) on their team, but they owe their success largely to the contributions of their opening rikishi, Kawazoe Keita, who achieved a remarkable comeback victory over the talented Ishioka Mikiya in the team semi-finals.

Ishioka Mikiya is originally from Aomori, and is now a member of Tottori Johoku High School (just like his kohai Narita Rikido). On paper, Tottori Johoku High School were the favourites to win this tournament, but to do that, they needed to start every match 2-0, as their final team member, the aforementioned Toma Tsuguto, isn't able to hold up his weight anymore (quite literally) in competitions. However, Ishioka's shock loss to Kawazoe meant that they had to settle for 3rd place. Nevertheless, Tottori are now attracting more and more very talented rikishi at the Middle School and High School levels.