higginbotham

Kokkai really looks like a new rikishi now. He has relinquished the tsuki, oshi sumo for good. It was not bad for itself, but the way Kokkai would do it, handily geeting out of balance, made he lose so many bouts plus it costed an injured right knee. Currently his mawashi grip has been so good and the footwork so solid that I look forward to seeing him against Sanyuaku, maybe as one of them. It was a strong win against Tochiozan and even while things looked bad for him he had enough power to counter attack effectively. 193 w and 193 l in Makuuchi now so for the first time since a long period his record is even. It can be a good bout and a win with Goeido tomorrow if Kokkai is able to preclude him from geeting the favourite grip as he did today with Tochiozan.

Tokitenku. Asashoryu tries to pass in disguise. Without checking I'd say Kyokutenho. We were just talking about his durability in the chat earlier. Oh, and I'm surprised nobody commented about the bow-twirler's fumble yet. All of the them use wrist bandages but Kitazakura.... impressive

O2w Chiyotaikai (7-3) oshidashi O2e Kaio (7-3) It did not look like sumo. J8e Shirononami (4-6) J13w Kirinowaka (5-5) Possible kyujo by Shirononami tomorrow.

Tokitenku. Asashoryu tries to pass in disguise.

Hokutoriki should be waiting for a faulty tachiai tomorrow. :-O

Maybe it is just the age. Last year in his first show up in makuuchi since a long abscence his sumo was quite fast and agile with good side attacks. Then it vanished away into air and he has simply stayed in makuuchi. The 8-7 last basho was a sort of a miracle and now he is likely to return to Juryo for a brief stint before retirement. Wakanoho looks better than that 3-3 ? he is simply irritating, and to make matters worse he entered sumo at 16, not 22 like Roho or 23 like hatakikomi Aran so there are many, many years to come with this name on the banzuke.

Homasho, Tochiozan aren't ready now to face top foes and really have a chance to win out, however if the trend is kept maybe in a few basho they should be able to show something interesting over there.

Not only he has won 5 bouts straight and it was his second start with 2 wins or more in the past 2,5 years, but also he has displayed some good sumo in Osaka, keeping a solid grip on the ground, even in a well disputed bout against Toyonoshima. His foot of clay, the weak balance when in motion has not showed up thus far. Perhaps it is too soon to tell an above average basho from a breakthrough and predict he won't level off too much from now on in the mid-makuuchi ranks. Good sumo anyway.

The demotion in such a situation can do some good for him, as the very probable future come back should be strong.

Not very young nor "burly" for joining ozumo, maybe he can fly or something...

Jumonji, after Asahimaru, is getting closer to intai. This bout and the next to come may tell something.

He was one of the very promising super heavyweights sumo has witnessed in the past couple of years. Too early and too sad.

He also is queuing for most Makuuchi bouts with 1171, a lot behind Takamiyama's 1430. It is not a record for an oozeki though.

Kotooshu has been the sole ozeki to be dominated by Aminishiki in the past few basho, sad. By and large the tall Bulgarian has been too slow to get the mawashi a reasonably quick tachiiai knocks him off more easily than before.

Maybe not yet. Shunketsu had a good tachiai keeping Tosayutaka from getting close to the mawashi and a very quick spin was enough to give Shunketsu aite's back but Tosayutaka, nonetheless, looks quite good for lower Juryo. A win for him against Kyokunankai.

I have PM you with my new picks (for banzuke surfing 4 too), but as the message does not appear in the sent box here it is: Shiratsuka for the 45-48 bracket.

Thank you for the information. Kinryuzan, Jd24w (On the banzuke...)

More important probably is their appearance in more than one list, i.e., once you are there, develop fast, really fast or keep being a prospect for a very long time...

But after so, so many injuries it is hard to expect a full heal...

Good report, though I can't see much "genkiness" on Kaio, and yes, Takekaze might have turned a corner last basho. Nonetheless I would not be very surprised if he finishes with 3, 4 or fewer wins. Kyokutenho a relic ? oh no, but my predictions for him are far worse than 7 or 8 wins.

Kaio, Otsukasa and Jumonji. EDIT: the first is Kaio

Sorry :-) , problem solved as old password was found ( coincidentally the same used in ROTO sumo) but the new account should be erased still....

Since my pass and username did not match at Chaingang site and there was no e-mail to ask for another, I've created another user (j_higginbotham) to take part. Is it possible to sent another pass to let me keep my previous name (higginbotham) and thus erase the new account ? Thank you in advance.

Actually, the post was not intended to criticise your topic. To see how far promising rikishi can go this topic fits very well, however 15 or 16 year starters likely to mk more than a couple of times whilst climbing the banzuke are nowhere, or, to put it another way, a rikishi like Wakanosato, despite considerable qualities would never have appeared on such a list. There is a blind spot as to "watching" lower division rikishi, thereby the suggestion as to a possible addition was made.

This time you haven't written your predictions :-) . Good reading anyway.