sumo

Veteran Kyokutenho wins 1st sumo title

10 Comments

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Kyokutenho, who is ranked just seventh in sumo's elite division, threw down fourth-ranked Tochiozan

Sloppy. And some people would read this and be none the wiser. Kyokutenho was Maegashira 7 on the west side. Including the yokozuna, the 6 ozeki, the 2 sekiwake, the 2 komusubi, and the 12 maegashira ranked above him, he is ranked equal 24th, if that is how you want to put it. Tochiozan would be ranked equal 18th, as he was Maegashira 4 on the East side.

It was the first championship play-off in sumo history between two maegashira.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

First time since 2001 that any Maegashira ranked sumo has won as well. Outstanding performance, there can't be too many older rikishi to win a yusho at all, let alone their first.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I agree that some of wrestlers were sloppy but also think the crack-down on pre-arranged victories is giving some rank-and-filers more incentive to go for the trophy. Hopefully we'll see some more passionate sumo in the bashos to come. "Congrats" to Kyokutenho and "don't get down, get ready for July" to my favorite Baruto.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It was good to see someone else besides Hakuho win a yusho. This may well be Kyokutenho's first and last yusho, it was good to see him win one.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I think when Daijoboots said sloppy, he/she meant the writing, since s/he goes on to point out that Kyokutenho is ranked rather lower than the article says.

Anyway, well done that old guy, nice to have a different winner.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I agree with Daijoboots and Jannetto about the inadequate writing. JT should beef up its sumo coverage from time to time. If I only read JT, I would have missed the fact that the tournament was going on the last two weeks.

It's interesting that Kyokutenho is listed as Mongolian, even though he became a naturalized Japanese citizen about 7 years ago according to the Daily Yomiuri. Is it possible to have dual citizenship between Mongolia and Japan? I think that is not the case--look at someone like Neko Hiroshi giving up his Japanese citizenship to try to get onto the Olympic squad in Myanmar. Is Kyokutenho still identified as Mongolian just to make the fights seem more interesting (i.e. appealing to nationalistic sentiment)? Anyway, congratulations on the culminating victory of 20 years in the sport!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Actually, I think Neko Hirsoshi got Cambodian citizenship. But the point I wanted to make about Japanese adults not being able to hold dual citizenship is the same.

It seems like sumo puts a lot of emphasis on the place each wrestler represents, such as hometown or birth country, even though the wrestlers have lived and trained in Japan since adolesence. In the case of Kyokutenho, that's more than half his life and all of his adult years in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I would gladly write up a review of the days actions for JT, I'm sure plenty of us would be able to do a decent job of it, I miss seeing daily updates even if they are fairly concise ones.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Too bad a japanese rikishi didn't win, but i expected it, it seems that only Kyokutenho could handle the pressure of being in the lead.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why are there no updates on the Nagoya Basho?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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