Hatsu 2024 discussion (results)

[Katooshu]

Jeez how is no matta called for Hakuyozan-Chiyosakae? You could see it coming a mile away too......

Edited January 18, 2024 by Katooshu

[Jakusotsu]

20 minutes ago, Katooshu said:

Jeez how is no matta called for Hakuyozan-Chiyosakae? You could see it coming a mile away too......

My thoughts exactly...

[Jejima]

7 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Mainoumi only beat Akebono once........it just gets replayed over and over. In fact, if highlights are anything to go by, Mainoumi never lost a match 

More interesting, in my opinion, is Mainoumi's record against Konishiki.

[Kaninoyama]

Hokuseiho's "heavy lean" is the sumo equivalent of Ali's rope-a-dope. 

Exhaust their opponents into submission. 

Edited January 18, 2024 by Kaninoyama

[Leoben]

That was an uncharacteristic win by Daieisho, and against a specialist no less. 

[Ryoshishokunin]

2 hours ago, Kaninoyama said:

Hokuseiho's "heavy lean" is the sumo equivalent of Ali's rope-a-dope. 

Exhaust their opponents into submission. 

As much as it annoys Kintamayama (and others), I actually really love that Hokuseiho is willing to just lean on people for as long as they'll let him.  He wins that exchange, so there's no reason for him to get bored and try something unless he has a good reason to.   It's not like the re-start clock is anything to worry about.

There are of course other issues with his game, but that's not one of them IMO.

[dingo]

The day of the weird tachiai was upon us today. 

Onosato almost fell for the old Aoiyama push and pull trick. Didn't anyone really bother to tell him? Fortunately for him Aoiyama is much less effective nowadays so the trick was too feeble to unbalance Onosato. (compare it with the Aoiyama from Kintamayama's video today...) 

After a third of the basho, the score for the veterans is not that good anymore. Only Takarafuji and Tamawashi have more wins than losses and Myogiryu, Sadanoumi and especially Aoiyama are in a quite sad situation. Whereas Myogiryu and Sadanoumi might be able to bounce back either this basho or the next, Aoiyama is really lacking any kind of Maegashira level power. 

Shodai actually improved from yesterday and managed to get a win! Granted, Midorifuji was a much easier opponent for him as well. But Shodai seemed actually somewhat on fire today.

I was about to say that Atamifuji is finding joi a much different challenge this time, reflected by his 0-4 score but he finally got a win over Tobizaru. It was not easy by any means though, as Atamifuji really had to put all of his focus and effort into defeating his opponent. Tobizaru is no joke and he learned that today.

Daieisho pulls out a magic trick from his mawashi and defeats Wakamotoharu with... a throw!? Wakamotoharu is probably cursing himself all the way to shitakubeya as he almost had the win.

Ura basically defeated himself by trying too many techniques at once. Great patience and perseverance by Kotonowaka, but I'd say he was not the better rikishi in this bout.

Kirishima got somewhat lucky as Abi wasn't able to focus his pushing attacks too narrowly and Kirishima's evasive maneuvers caused him to step out in the end. A close escape for the yokozuna hopeful. If he wants the rope, he'd better refocus soon.

Wow! Total focus and commitment from Gounoyama. Sweet revenge for the niramiai antics last basho. Even Hoshoryuu himself seemed to be impressed. 

Terunofuji is obviously better on the belt than Hokutofuji. If he can get a good grip and position, the yokozuna is still able to outmuscle almost anyone. Provided he remains healthy there'll be some great bouts to look forward to -- particularly Asanoyama, Kotonowaka and the ozeki pair. 

[RabidJohn]

That's why I like Gonoyama! He could be headed higher in the long run, but he's already capable of giving the top guys a hard time, which is what I like to see from a joi level rikishi.

Kirishima cut that far too close with Abi. I'd love to see him get the rope, but he just isn't dominant enough atm.

[junsan]

Gonoyama gets his revenge~!

[Kurowashi]

 

4 hours ago, Kaninoyama said:

Hokuseiho's "heavy lean" is the sumo equivalent of Ali's rope-a-dope. 

Exhaust their opponents into submission. 

Yeah, but the difference is, watching Ali fight is spectacular, while watching Hokuseiho not so much 

[Jakusotsu]

1 minute ago, Kurowashi said:

Yeah, but the difference is, watching Ali fight is spectacular, while watching Hokuseiho not so much 

Foreplay aside, his snatching victory from the jaws of defeat at the end was pretty amazing.

[Kurowashi]

1 hour ago, Jakusotsu said:

Foreplay aside, his snatching victory from the jaws of defeat at the end was pretty amazing.

True, that was a good one. But still as a connaisseur of spirited bouts, his brand of sumo is just to monotone and boring tbh…

On the other hand, from his perspective, it‘s totally eligible to use his weapons and advantages over his opponents.

[Faustonowaka]

4 hours ago, Ryoshishokunin said:

As much as it annoys Kintamayama (and others), I actually really love that Hokuseiho is willing to just lean on people for as long as they'll let him.  He wins that exchange, so there's no reason for him to get bored and try something unless he has a good reason to.   It's not like the re-start clock is anything to worry about.

There are of course other issues with his game, but that's not one of them IMO.

Hokusheiho applying the tactics of Kotonowaka senior aka mr “one minute”

[hakutorizakura]

No Gono-bowling today, it's Gono-train choo choo! I thought I saw a little bumpety there, or maybe just my imagination.

It seems Abi is still affected by Shikoroyama's passing? No sign of his PROPER sumo yet, Kirishima's bad-ish win notwithstanding.

[Oskanohana]

11 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Jeez how is no matta called for Hakuyozan-Chiyosakae? You could see it coming a mile away too......

11 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

My thoughts exactly...

I disagree on that one. Chiyosakae was doing his thing of trying to absorb the charge and eventually sidestep and he was on his game plan. Pity for him is he got caught full on the face because he's that bad and his plan was actually crap against a very limited guy like one-legged Hakuyozan.

The real bad one for me today was Ichiyamamoto-Nishikigi, where Ichi clearly jumps the gun and nobody f'n cared. Poor guy Nishikigi. He grew up on me thanks to his near demotion to makushita and the guy just kept on digging doing straight up sumo and last year was actually his best year ever with that unbelievable run in Nagoya.

17 minutes ago, hakutorizakura said:

It seems Abi is still affected by Shikoroyama's passing? No sign of his PROPER sumo yet, Kirishima's bad-ish win notwithstanding.

I see no real difference on his usual sumo though.... 

Edited January 18, 2024 by Oskanohana

[Tigerboy1966]

11 hours ago, Kaninoyama said:

Hokuseiho's "heavy lean" is the sumo equivalent of Ali's rope-a-dope. 

Exhaust their opponents into submission. 

It doesn't work too badly either. In the last 6 basho (including this one) only Kirishima, Hoshoryu, Daieisho, Kotonowaka and Wakamotoharu have more maku'uchi wins.

[Reonito]

On 14/01/2024 at 13:41, Octofuji said:

Here's a lot of those attempts 

https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi_kim.aspx?r=11918#1yoritaoshi

We're up to 3 failed kakenage attempts by Akua in 5 bouts. Today's looked particularly painful.

[Benihana]

So much fun. Katasukashi galore. And even if the winning kimarite wasn't katasukashi, i'm under the impression that we see way more rikishi doing the dreidel than average.

Although it was vs. Tobizaru, i'm glad Atamifuji finally scored his first win. He sure knew, M1 would be different, but 0-4 still must be devastating for anyones psyche, especially after putting in so much effort in those bouts.

Edited January 18, 2024 by Benihana

[Koorifuu]

Great day of sumo.

Down in makushita, pixie Oyamada pulled a nice kakenage. Kitaharima came out full guns blazing and shoved Kiryuko out. Onokatsu proves me wrong and beats Hakuoho fair and square.

Down in juryo, Nishikifuji v Kotoeko was a great bout - a bunch of others are worth watching, too - like Yuma's and Tokihayate's reversals. Takerufuji is proving to be a beast at this level, as well.

Onosato doing his usual shtick of giving his opponent exactly what they need, except Aoiyama's too weak to take advantage of it. Hokuseiho with a brilliant reversal. Daieisho pulling a trick out of the bag. Gonoyama blasting past Hoshoryu and taking revenge for last basho. Midorifuji taking on his natural enemy Shodai, the man who can't be knocked off his feet, and ALMOST managed to throw him...

The non-matta on Ichiyamamoto vs Nishikigi was even worse than Chiyosakae vs Hakuozan.

[Miyam]

On 17/01/2024 at 15:19, hakutorizakura said:

Midorifuji is the real deal in small man sumo in the last few years. He doesn't rely on funny tricks (which he does sometimes, but that's okay) and just fight toe to toe.

Also Hiradoumi.

Edited January 18, 2024 by Miyam

[RabidJohn]

2 hours ago, Benihana said:

He sure knew, M1 would be different, but 0-4 still must be devastating for anyones psyche, especially after putting in so much effort in those bouts.

If he's studied sumo like he should have, he'll be expecting a really hard 1st week at M1. It's always a real test for any young rikishi who gets up there so quickly.

He's been fed to sanyaku to knock him down in the latter stages of the last two basho, so facing them isn't really new territory; just getting so many of them that's hard.

He's not going to be MK on nakabi, which must be the real crusher, and he'll have the opportunity to regain lost ground next week.

We've both been around long enough to know that the experience is more important than a KK this time around - and that's far from out of the question.

[Benihana]

2 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

We've both been around long enough to know that the experience is more important than a KK this time around - and that's far from out of the question.

Absolutely.

[Kaninoyama]

Poor Abi. He's clearly in no condition to battle physically or mentally following the passing of his shisho, but he's giving it his all anyway. 

[Seiyashi]

5 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

It doesn't work too badly either. In the last 6 basho (including this one) only Kirishima, Hoshoryu, Daieisho, Kotonowaka and Wakamotoharu have more maku'uchi wins.

It says a lot that it doesn't feel like he's 6th for makuuchi wins. 

[Yamanashi]

3 hours ago, Koorifuu said:

Oyamada pulled a nice kakenage

The poor guy is so skinny, Ohata (who outweighs him by 50 kg) clearly thought "I'll just do Big Guy Sumo® and take him out."

3 hours ago, Koorifuu said:

Down in juryo, Nishikifuji v Kotoeko was a great bout

If you had Kotoeko getting a Juryo Spirited Rikishi prize for day 5, come pick up your Toyota Parēdokā.