The International Sumo Federation has issued the statement below to its members regarding a recent event held in the United States.
A similar promotion run by many of the same people two decades ago resulted in multiple year (or lifetime) bans from IFS events for certain wrestlers and officials.
NOTICE:The event unrelated to IFS held in US
Regarding ‘the World Championship Sumo’ held in the USA this month, this was NOT related to the IFS at all, as it was organized by a different organization.
We have requested them to change the name of this competition, as it is confusing and misleading to the Sumo World Championships, which we officially organize.
The IFS is not involved in this competition and does not know all the details of how it is run. We do not ban IFS members to participate in this event at the moment, but we are not pleased about this competition being held under a confusing name.
We would like IFS members to perform to the best of their strength at our official event, the Sumo World Championships.
Look forward to seeing you at SWC 2024 in Poland in September.
With best regards,
International Sumo Federation