Hakuho - lost the plot or injured

[sekihiryu]

Is it just me or is Hakuho fumbled the ball? his sumo is sloppy at best, especially yesterdays slap fest with Mickey. Is he still quite injured? The dynamic sumo he displayed one year ago has gone, replaced with Chiyotaikai style - just hanging in there.

whats the deal? thougths anyone?

[Asojima]

Is it just me or is Hakuho fumbled the ball? his sumo is sloppy at best, especially yesterdays slap fest with Mickey. Is he still quite injured? The dynamic sumo he displayed one year ago has gone, replaced with Chiyotaikai style - just hanging in there.

whats the deal? thougths anyone?

The injury is not his major problem. He is an excellent technician who rose too fast. He is suddenly in the spotlight where his strengths and weaknesses are being recognized, and he is now competing against veterans who know how to avoid the strengths and capitalize on the weaknesses. It has sapped his confidence. He has the strength and skills to go higher, but he has to get it back together. I suspect he is going to have a problem doing it, and expect him to become another Wakanosato with consistently good bashos in the 7-8 to 9-6 range with occasional flashes of glory. I hope I am wrong because he has the potential of being one of the great ones.

Them's my thoughts for what they are worth.

[Kintamayama]

I say he's adjusting, and will soon become Ozeki and Yokozuna in the end.

We shall see..

[Shomishuu]

I agree with Asojima...Hakuho's injury is old news, though he does obliquely mention it sometime. Right now he belongs to a club that includes (in no particular order) Miyabiyama, Taiho, Kisenosato, Kitanoumi, Onishiki (circa 1972), Takanohana (the yokozuna), Kotooshu - and others I don't have time to dial up right now. In other words, he has amazing talent and rose rapidly at a young age. Of the ones mentioned above, Kitanoumi and Taiho are the only ones who went all the way without ever hitting a wall (if you want to call Taiho's ONE 7-8 basho a wall. Who knows which way he'll go? But the one guy to look at is Takanohana. It took him 21 basho to make yokozuna from the time he first made sekiwake. He came onto the scene just a tad younger than Hakuho but in general it was the same situation, except that Takanohana had a superior mental makeup. We shouldn't give up on Hakuho yet, given how long it took Takanohana to get to the top.

[Guest masamune2005]

i think that hakuhou's body is fine but he is still carrying the memory of the ankle injury. (like mickey after his broken jaw.) he has shown some amazing sumo but it looks to me that he is still experimenting with different styles to find what works best. it seems he has settled into being a 'throw specialist' but is working on the best way to set them up. he is only 20 and consistantly ranked in the top ten on the banzuke. i think its a little too early to start worrying.

[Odoriou]

My impression: When Hakuho beat the Yokozuna a year ago, became Komusubi and even made 11 wins at his first sanyaku appearance, the whole sumo world was looking at that new kid. They expected him to bring a fresh breeze in - and to be the next yokozuna. But things didn't turn out as expected, so there soon was disappointment.

Hakuho regularly scores KK (which is indeed a great achievement) and he is a very skilled rikishi, but the expectations were higher. I don't think his sumo really used to be so much more dynamic. What has changed is the way we look at him, maybe.

Oh, by the way: Hakuho surprized me yesterday, when knocking Mickey out with a harite thunderstorm. So he's still very versatile.

[Phelix]

As in all sports, the body is only 10% of the competition. The rest are made up by the psyche.

The kid needs to sit down and have a little chat with himself. But I think he'll do fine, in the end. He'll be an ozeki at least. It just seem to me that he doesn't seem to now which foot to stand on right now (yes, pune intended).

[Asysanyama]

Oh, by the way: Hakuho surprized me yesterday, when knocking Mickey out with a harite thunderstorm. So he's still very versatile.

By the way Odoriu DID YOU SEE (Sigh...) giving the first one???

Thanks to Dale's videos I could see (Mickey...) shifting to a side and GIVING a tremendous harite to Hakuho even shaking his head !!!

I believe this propells him to give back the "greeting" but with a substantial amount of interest (Eating...)

[Shimpu]

As in all sports, the body is only 10% of the competition. The rest are made up by the psyche.

10% ?? I don't agree. Yes, the psyche is the main factor but you need solid basics to get in. Psyche is something that differ an averege competitor from a champion. ITOH you can't be a great in any sport if your body doesn't fit. It is very importent aspecially in sumo. Yes, Ama, Toyonoshima and others are fine but we are talking about champions (Eating...)

[Erkhembulgan]

i think that hakuhou's body is fine but he is still carrying the memory of the ankle injury. (like mickey after his broken jaw.) he has shown some amazing sumo but it looks to me that he is still experimenting with different styles to find what works best. it seems he has settled into being a 'throw specialist' but is working on the best way to set them up. he is only 20 and consistantly ranked in the top ten on the banzuke. i think its a little too early to start worrying.

I agree with masamune2005. Hakuho's friend and teacher, mongolian wrestler and commentor died recently. (Eating...) Maybe psychologically Hakuho is not able to fight well. I have no doubt that next year Hakuho will show much better sumo.

[aderechelsea]

Hakuho regularly scores KK (which is indeed a great achievement)

regularly is an understatement ....

he had only one MK since Aki 2002 (when he was in mid-Sandanme) and that was in Nagoya this year but due to his injury ...

he was 6-2 when he got injured ....

[Olenishiki]

No one has mentioned this, so maybe I'm not seeing it straight. But I had the basho on TIVO and kept playing back the Hakuho-Mickey bout and I could swear while Mickey was doing a henka to his right, so was Hakuho. Did anyone else notice this? I feel pretty certain Hakuho was not going straight forward.

[Shomishuu]

No one has mentioned this, so maybe I'm not seeing it straight. But I had the basho on TIVO and kept playing back the Hakuho-Mickey bout and I could swear while Mickey was doing a henka to his right, so was Hakuho. Did anyone else notice this? I feel pretty certain Hakuho was not going straight forward.

Good eye...but the reason I didn't nominate both rikishi on SFM's Henka Sightings was that Hakuho's left foot took the first step for him and it WAS forward and actually crossed the white line, which was probably why I never even saw the possibility of a henka. The move to the side after that was more to re-set himself than anything else...or so it appeared to me. All in the eye of the beholder for sure, which is the reason no henka guidelines are given to the voters on Henka Sightings.

[Olenishiki]

The distinction you draw makes sense to me. It would be too weird for Hakuho to have done another real henka after all the flak he got for day one. The double henka is pretty funny, in its way. In the parlor game of sames and opposites, I'd offer that the opposite of simultaneous orgasm is simultaneous henka.

[Bishonohana]

i think that hakuhou's body is fine but he is still carrying the memory of the ankle injury. (like mickey after his broken jaw.) he has shown some amazing sumo but it looks to me that he is still experimenting with different styles to find what works best. it seems he has settled into being a 'throw specialist' but is working on the best way to set them up. he is only 20 and consistantly ranked in the top ten on the banzuke. i think its a little too early to start worrying.

Well said! I have to agree with this statement... (Applauding...)