CT3*

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Injured Endo doubtful for basho Apr 17, 2015 Popular 24-year-old wrestler Endo is in doubt of making a comeback and competing in May’s Summer Grand Sumo Tournament, his stablemaster said Friday. Endo injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in March and was forced to withdraw from the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka. Although he decided against surgery, Endo is not yet fit enough to resume sparring with before the next grand sumo tournament starts in Tokyo on May 10. On Friday, Endo was limited to doing some light training at the Oitekaze stable. Should he fail to take part in Tokyo, Endo will certainly be demoted from the elite makuuchi division to the second-tier juryo ranks. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2015/04/17/sumo/injured-endo-doubtful-for-basho/#.VTanh2xFAeg

Done.

Rising Mongolian Terunofuji emerges to shock sumo circles Who was the big hero at the recent Spring Grand Sumo Tournament? Many would point to yokozuna Hakuho, who extended his record of basho titles to 34. But there is another candidate, one who helped generate excitement at a tournament that enjoyed sellout crowds at every one of its 15 days — a feat achieved for the first time in 14 years in Osaka. Sekiwake Terunofuji reflected on Sunday's closing day of the spring tournament by saying he was ready to take on the challenge. "If I had a chance to go one more match, I would have done my utmost," Terunofuji said. "My feeling?" he said in response to a question. "The same as usual". A final-day loss by Hakuho would have given Terunofuji a chance at the title in a winner-take-all playoff against the mighty yokozuna. Instead, Terunofuji was right behind the champion, collecting 13 wins en route to his runner-up finish at the tournament. The spring basho was his first at the sanyaku level — the three ranks below yokozuna — and it was the first time a wrestler making his sanyaku debut posted 13 wins since Annenyama did so in 1957. In fact, he delivered himself the chance to win his first title when he handed Hakuho his only loss of the tournament on the 13th day. Spectators at the Bodymaker Colosseum witnessed the yokozuna being put on the defensive throughout the bout. Terunofuji opened up with a slap to Hakuho's face, and after exchanging thrusts, he succeeded in grabbing his opponent's belt with his left hand. The 23-year-old stayed on the attack, first trying an overarm throw, then moved forward to eventually force the yokozuna out. Moments after the struggle, the worn-down yokozuna was forced to step out of the ring — seemingly resigning himself to the fact that he would lose. "It was good to see him keep attacking from start to finish," said Isegahama, former yokozuna Asahifuji and the stablemaster in charge of Terunofuji. On the final day, the 1.91-meter Terunofuji defeated ozeki Goeido with a powerful armlock throw, and waited for a chance of a playoff. The extra match, however, did not materialize as Hakuho outlasted fellow Mongolian yokozuna Harumafuji for his 14th win. The 13 wins, though, were enough for Terunofuji to earn two of the three special prizes given to top-division wrestlers, the Outstanding Performance award and the Fighting Spirit award. Ichinojo, friend and rival Terunofuji traveled to Japan from Mongolia along with Ichinojo, another up-and-coming wrestler two years his junior. He pined to become a wrestler similar to Kaio, a former ozeki who was known for his Herculean strength before he retired in 2011. The two entered Tottori Johoku High School, where many promising sumo wrestlers have gone. Terunofuji entered the Magaki stable and made his debut in May 2011. When that stable was shut down, he moved to the Isegahama stable in 2013. His ring name reflects the lofty expectations that surround him — it is the product of combining the names of yokozuna Terukuni and Asahifuji, now his stablemaster. He reached the top makuuchi division at the spring tournament last year. Ichinojo moved up to the sanyaku rank earlier than Terunofuji, earning promotion to sekiwake at the Kyushu Grand Tournament in November last year. Terunofuji talked about his intense rivalry with Ichinojo before the Osaka tournament, saying, "What matters is who will make it to the ozeki rank first." And now Terunofuji is clearly leading that race. Stablemaster and chief of ringside judges Izutsu said it is his own personal opinion that Terunofuji might have the chance to become ozeki if he wins the summer tournament. Terunofuji laughed at the statement, saying, "That's impossible." However, he later added, "My goal for this year is earn promotion to ozeki." http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002027046

Hakuho Holds Yusho Press Conference Yokozuna Hakuho met with reporters the Monday after clinching his record setting 34th career yusho. After being maligned in the press the last two months following his criticism of the judges' efforts in January, both the Yokozuna and the reporters on hand took a cautious approach as they worked through the presser conference. Hakuho was first asked how he felt one day removed from his championship to which he replied, "In some ways it was fast but in other ways it felt slow. This basho just felt different from the others. It felt hard to get up for it and to feel fired up, but on day 3 when Harumafuji was beaten right before my eyes, I realized that I need to get things going because Kakuryu was already kyujo." When asked about the content of his sumo he replied, "The content this basho was completely different from last basho. Last basho I was battling so much pressure that you couldn't necessarily see physically, but this tournament I felt as if I had taken things up to a higher level. I realized yet again that a hon-basho is special because it's where a person grows and becomes polished." When asked about the Osaka faithful, the Yokozuna stated, "Osaka is an exciting tournament, and it was big that I was able to deliver the yusho speech here again after two years. Then add to that the anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, and I wanted to convey my personal thoughts to everyone through my sumo as well. No matter how many dozens of time you yusho, it always has the power to move people." After the obligatory questions, a brave reporter finally asked Hakuho about his thoughts on his comments made the day after the Hatsu basho in January to which the Yokozuna said, "My oyakata has already discussed the matter with the commissioner, and the case is closed. My only focus this basho was my sumo, and everyone can see the results of that focus through my sumo." Not to be outdone, another reporter asked if Hakuho refused to speak to the media in the dressing room so he could focus more, the Yokozuna said, "You could say that. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head that were never conveyed. I endured quite a bit up until now, and I think that is tied directly to my favorable results." When asked about the possibility of his breaking Futabayama's consecutive bout winning streak of 69, Hakuho replied, "Well, I am the sport's 69th Yokozuna, so there is that coincidence working for me. As for he goes from here, Hakuho replied, "There are a lot of fans who cheer for sumo and a lot of Hakuho fans within that group who support me and enable me to get up on that dohyo. Moving forward I hope to continue to build upon my own legacy."

I gotta give some props to Gagamaru. I was in Tokyo for the January basho and watched his juryo bouts and was impressed with what I saw. Some guys get demoted and toil mightily in the lower ranks before making it back to makuuchi. But Gagamaru looked pretty focused last basho. But I never expected him to go 11-4 in his first trip back. I don't expect to ever see him become a sanyaku regular, but he was always a pretty solid meat and potatoes rikishi. I can't help but wonder if Masunoyama will take any inspiration from Gaga and make a similar return. But it may be too late.

Sumozumo Your response is cute. Not sure if you needed to quote my post multiple times, but cute.

Epic bout of Yokozuna sumo from Hakuho and Harumafuji! But once Hakuho got the left outer, I knew it was game over. Really hope Terunofuji can remain healthy and realize his potential. He's had issues with lower back pain in the past, and his tendency to lift guys and carry them over the bales is exciting to watch but could be detrimental in the long run. Not going to get too deep into the yaocho fray, but we all know it sometimes happens. Several of the final day's bouts had predictable winners. And Hakuho lost his 3 final bouts in the basho that resulted in Kakuryu's sole yusho victory and subsequent promotion to Yokozuna. How often does Hakuho lose 3 consecutive bouts? At least Kakuryu is proving to be worthy of the rank, unlike Goeido who struggles to justify his recent Ozeki promotion. I don't obsess over the yaocho spectre and it certainly doesn't hinder my enjoyment of this great sport!

I suspect Hakuho and many other foreign rikishi face indignities that we the viewing public have no clue about. Perhaps he feels particularly slighted by the media and so refuses to engage them. After the "scandal" of his comments, I distinctly recall seeing him offer a contrite sounding statement on some Japanese television show. But the media persisted in bringing up the issue. Hakuho has generally behaved very deferentially and he's constantly and publicly showed gratitude to Taiho and repeatedly said that breaking the record was his was of "repaying his debt" of gratitude to Taiho (what does that even mean?). He breaks the record, makes one ill-advised comment and the Japanese media continue to pester him about it. The guy has literally dedicated half of his entire life to sumo. We may never know exactly what has motivated him to cease speaking to the media, but as a fan I'm not bothered by it. For the moment, he's doing his talking on the dohyo. And I'm still very much interested in what he has to say by way of his performance within it.

All three Ozeki stand at 8-6. Not very impressive, imo.

dingo I noticed that woman too! Looked like her mouth was frozen in that position for a bit. Funny stuff.

Doesn't surprise me that the ST crew would question the Hakuho/Terunofuji bout. Its kinda what they do. Hakuho failed to get the left outer and that affected his position, but I did expect more resistant from him as he got ushered over the bales. Looking forward to their next matchup!

*Kaisei barely showed up for his bout against Tochiozan. *I watched that Goeidou vs Toyonoshima bout multiple times (thanks Fay!) and the exaggerated manner in which Toyonoshima fell reminded me of the kind of flop seen in basketball or futbol. It literally caused me to laugh out loud. *The Hakuho vs Kisenosato bout was was...interesting. Watched that one multiple times as well and still not sure if I'd call it a henka. Kisenosato did look like a chump, though.

Really enjoyable bout between Hakuho and Terunofuji! Hakuho got the right inner but was unable to get his favored left outer grip and that made all the difference, imo.

Really looking forward to a couple of matches in particular: Tochinoshin vs Goeido Hakuhou vs Terunofuji Can't wait!!

I was impressed with the way Hakuhou almost casually dispatched of Kotoshogiku today. It was as if he was saying, "get off my dohyo!"

I was curious to see how Hakuho would approach his bout against Goeido, and having watched it, my suspicions were confirmed. Hakuho is on another winning streak run and is fighting a bit cautiously and leaving little room for error, imo. He got zensho yusho last time out and I think he is aiming for the same thing in Osaka. And even in the 2 basho before his last zensho yusho, he only lost once each tournament. Without those losses, he'd have been on track to match his 4 consecutive zensho yusho of 2010.

I don't find watching excellence and dominance boring. I think the recent "scandal" over his comments after years and years of exemplary and almost deferential behavior has pissed Hakuho off. And now he's simply focused on kicking butt.

Hakuho appears frustrated and pissed. And as a result, I expect him to be merciless on the dohyo. And just keep on winning. Perhaps he's decided that rather than give the press something to talk about, he'll give them something to write about instead as he smashes records.

Short but brutal clash between Kyokushuuhou and Amuuru. Right kachi-age to the face and then a hard two handed pull down from the back of Amuuru's head. I immediately thought that if Oosunaarashi won in the exact same manner, there'd be some whining and complaining about him being too brutish and rough. Anyone else notice the headbutt to the face that Takarafuji caught? I missed it initially and only caught it in the replay.

Happy Birthday to Hakuhou! He turned 30 today.

Yeah...but one of Harumafuji's strengths is his unpredictability.

I used "occupying" as a figure of speech. I'm well aware of how the Yokozuna rank works. My point was that the Japanese fans are clamoring for a Japanese yusho winner. Now that Hakuho has created a new record, he may have a letdown; and that, coupled with Kakuryu's absence gives Kisensosato a better chance. But as usual, he's already stumbled.

I don't consider myself a Kisenosato fan. His sumo doesn't really excite me, but he's clearly the best the current Ozeki rank has to offer. And I predict that he gets a yusho this year. Long suffering Japanese sumo fans have dealt with the long drought of homegrown winners and three Mongolians occupying the Yokozuna ranks. Even with Kisenosato's habit of choking while under pressure, I just have a feeling that he wins one this year. It'll be good for the sport.

Punish him on the dohyo!