Kintamayama

Corona and sumo

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An under Makushita rikishi was tested positive yesterday  after running a high fever and feeling out of breath from April 4th with the fever going up and down. He was later sent to a hospital where he remains till now, and was tested again, this time found negative. He will be tested tomorrow again. In the meantime, the heya has suspended all training.

Edited by Kintamayama
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Hopefully they caught it in time for his health, and his heya mates. This doesn’t bode well for a May basho though, so hopefully they also caught it before it could spread.

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2 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

Hopefully they caught it in time for his health, and his heya mates. This doesn’t bode well for a May basho though, so hopefully they also caught it before it could spread.

Results in a second and more serious test were negative they are saying. Tomorrow's additional test will be crucial.

Edited by Kintamayama
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The  Haru basho was completed with absolutely no evidence of coronavirus among anyone  connected to professional sumo . Out of such a large population being in such close quarters, I found that fact to be amazing---and also very fortunate. I fully expected the basho to be suspended at some point, but it was successfully completed. 

The chances of this situation happening again in May are remote at best. Sooner or later, someone related to sumo will test positive for the virus.They may not actually be ill, but even with a state of emergency no longer in effect, that fact alone will be enough to cancel the basho. I believe the same situation will be true for Nagoya as well. With luck, the Aki basho could possibly be held, with or without audience participation. I believe the best chance of watching a "normal" basho again will be in Fukuoka in November. 

The bad news--we probably will be without professional sumo for quite a long time. The good news--such a long break could be a blessing for injured rikishis such as Takayasu and Tochnoshin, providing them a much longer time in which to heal. It will keep the severely injured Tomokaze from sliding even lower down the banzuke.  

For sumo fans, having nothing to follow will strongly affect them negatiively. It also will affect healthy rikishis whose desire to compete will not be met for quite a while. But for the few "walking wounded" rikishis whose career is at stake, this idle time will can turn into something positive. I just find it very sad that an infection that will kill many people coulld go a long way in aiding  their recovery.

 

Edited by sekitori
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First sumo wrestler tests positive for coronavirus

Quote

The Japan Sumo Association said Friday a lower-ranked wrestler has tested positive for COVID-19, marking the first confirmed case in the country's ancient sport.

The wrestler, whose name and stable has not been disclosed, developed a fever Saturday.

The case comes as a new blow to the JSA, which has already been forced to make changes to the schedule and format of its grand tournaments in response to the coronavirus pandemic...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2020/04/10/sumo/first-sumo-wrestler-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/

 

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2 hours ago, Wakaebala said:

I'd love to have a proper english translation about this article... I like what google translate can do, but it can't do magic... :D 

I use google, too, and my imagination.  :-)

 

Now the question is if his beya mates and others are also infected.   If so, how many?

All indication is that COVID 19 is widespread in Japan.   I don't think he is the only one in the sumo business to be infected.  The summer basho is very unlikely unless the Japanese government and its citizens come together to fight the virus.   

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The best hope for the honbasho is that everyone gets infected now and then there’s no danger of infection then. 

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6 hours ago, Wakaebala said:

I'd love to have a proper english translation about this article... I like what google translate can do, but it can't do magic... :D 

https://www.deepl.com/translator - not perfect, but better than Google Translate


Japan Sumo Association: One wrestler tests positive for new type of corona

 The Japan Sumo Association announced on the 10th that a rikishi under the rank of makushita wrestler suspected of being infected with a new type of coronavirus has tested positive in a PCR test. This is the first time that a rikishi's infection has been revealed.

 The rikishi had been suffering from fever and other symptoms, and was reportedly positive after receiving a simple test on the 8th. However, on the 9th, I received a call from the hospital saying it was a negative error. He was then admitted to a hospital in Tokyo for re-examination.

 According to Shibatayama, the rikishi had a fever on the 4th, which went down for about two days, but then came back up again. She felt sluggishness and shortness of breath and had symptoms of blood phlegm. He also had a pre-existing medical condition.

 Several rikishi were believed to be in poor health in the room to which this rikishi belonged, but only one was examined. The room to which the rikishi belonged has cancelled training. If it was positive, everyone in the room was to be tested.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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The first Sponichi article said this is thought to be from a heya with many sekitori. The second Sponichi article said the source said there were multiple rikishi thought to be in poor health but only one had been tested. This is obviously worrying for the heya and ozumo as a whole, not least of which is because some of the rikishi have, or are at risk from, co-morbidities.

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I know Takayasu and Tochinoshin have been mentioned as some who would benefit from no sumo for a while but I inmediately thought of Tomokaze. He’s due to drop into makushita  when the new banzuke comes out - now instead of dropping like a stone through the rest of the unpaid ranks he might be able to fully heal and have a shot at returning to juryo fairly quickly. 

Edited by ryafuji
Misread banzuke
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1 hour ago, Sasanishiki said:

The first Sponichi article said this is thought to be from a heya with many sekitori. The second Sponichi article said the source said there were multiple rikishi thought to be in poor health but only one had been tested. This is obviously worrying for the heya and ozumo as a whole, not least of which is because some of the rikishi have, or are at risk from, co-morbidities.

Not to mention the Oyakata associated with the stable who, on top of all the health issues which ail a rikishi in retirement, are possibly also in a higher risk age range. 

Edited by Eikokurai

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33 minutes ago, ryafuji said:

I know Takayasu and Tochinoshin have been mentioned as some who would benefit from no sumo for a while but I inmediately thought of Tomokaze. He’s due to drop into makushita  when the new banzuke comes out - now instead of dropping like a stone through the rest of the unpaid ranks he might be able to fully heal and have a shot at returning to juryo fairly quickly. 

Good points. If we are looking at a one basho delay then most of the guys fighting injured seem to benefit. A few extra weeks to recover and heal gives them a chance to come back in July healthier than they have been for a while. In fact you can probably make the case that everyone really benefits from the extra time off. 
 

But on the other side of things if we are looking at longer term delays (say into 2021) then I think this starts to work against a lot of guys. Particularly veterans who were probably looking at their last year or so in sumo due to their age might be looking at just one more basho rather than 6. Sure they get to hang out in the salaried ranks in the meantime, but for people like Hakuho who are aiming for 50 yusho, or Kotoshogiku who is moving his way up the total wins list, this takes away some opportunity for them. Or guys like Takakeisho or Hokutofuji who are coming off poor showings and will have to carry that negative momentum even longer.

Health and safety definitely need to be the foremost concern, but it’s interesting to think of all the indirect impacts the time off has. 

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Wowowow. A virus sprawl among rikishi shouldn't really trigger speculation on who would benefit. Sure, most of them are young athletes and as such maybe not in the primary risk group. At the same time, though, there are not only a few diabetics, guys with f*cked up livers etc. Not to mention that they tend to be fat, which *is* a risk factor. If it comes to the worst, we will see rikishi die, so Tochinoshin's knees shouldn't really be the focus IMHO.

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It should go without saying that I was referring specifically to the suspension of tournaments, not a “virus spread among rikishi.” It’s quite possible that Natsu would have been cancelled even if there had been no confirmed cases among rikishi. Of course I hope that they take all the isolation measures necessary to make sure that it doesn’t spread outside this one heya. 

Edited by ryafuji
typo
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5 minutes ago, ryafuji said:

It should go without saying that was referring specifically to the suspension of tournaments, not a “virus spread among rikishi.” It’s quite possible that Natsu would have been cancelled even if there had been no confirmed cases among rikishi. Of course I hope that they take all the isolation measures necessary to make sure that it doesn’t spread outside this one heya. 

Likewise on my post. Apologies if anyone took offense or thought I was making light of the situation. As I mentioned in my initial post, health and safety are the most important things for the rikishi and all people in general. 

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2 hours ago, Katsunorifuji said:

Good points. If we are looking at a one basho delay then most of the guys fighting injured seem to benefit. A few extra weeks to recover and heal gives them a chance to come back in July healthier than they have been for a while. In fact you can probably make the case that everyone really benefits from the extra time off. 

I would say that also depends on just how much their training efforts get curtailed in the meantime. A basho full of rusty and undertrained rikishi might well bring its own injury risks, largely nullifying the benefits of a longer break.

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If the forced vacation extends to the end of the year, will there be a pay cut?  Beya closures due to finance hardship?  Dropouts?  New retirees?  I'd think so.

 

This won't be the only heya with infection.  The virus spreads like what you see in a zombie movie.  Speaking of, if you have not seen Netflix's Kingdom 1 & Kingdom 2, I highly recommend.   

Edited by robnplunder

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