Sports Jul. 16, 2008 - 08:03PM JST ( 4 )

NAGOYA —

Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho beat countryman Asasekiryu to preserve his unbeaten record at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday. Hakuho stayed among the early pacesetters at 4-0, while Bulgarian ozeki Kotooshu returned to winning ways after a nightmare start to his yokozuna promotion bid. Another Mongolian, sekiwake Ama, made short work of Toyonoshima, easily forcing the komusubi out to retain his share of the lead with Hakuho and rank-and-filer Tochiozan, who thrust down Georgian wrestler Kokkai.
   
Yokozuna Asashoryu also won convincingly, railroading No. 2 maegashira Hokutoriki to stay one win behind the early leaders. Kotooshu bounced back when he blasted out struggling Futeno to level his score at 2-2. Elsewhere, ozeki Kaio dug deep to send spunky komusubi Kisenosato packing to improve to 3-1 but local favorite Kotomitsuki saw his perfect start to the 15-day tournament snapped after he was flipped over third-ranked Tochinonada. Ozeki Chiyotaikai huffed and puffed his way past sekiwake Kotoshogiku to move a step closer to the majority of wins he needs to avoid demotion from his ozeki rank.