J5 – Première défaite pour Kotoshogiku

Kotoshogiku’s quest to reach the ultimate rank of grand champion took a hit with shock first defeat at the hands of second-ranked maegashira Okinoumi on Thursday, the fifth day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.

Seeking back-to-back championships that would likely see him promoted to yokozuna, Kotoshogiku came charging forward after the tachiai but went down and touched the dirt just before Okinoumi (1-4) stepped outside the ring at Edion Arena Osaka.

Ringside judges congregated in the ring to review the bout but backed up the referee’s decision to award Okinoumi the win.

« It wasn’t the kind of sumo I was aiming for, but it is a maegashira’s job to try and beat ozeki so in that sense I have got the job done, » said Okinoumi.

« He (Kotoshogiku) had the upper hand at the tachiai. That is what he is good at. I was slow in every department but I am happy with the result. »

Kotoshogiku posted a surprise maiden championship win at the New Year meet in Tokyo in January but will need to also win the title here to be in with a chance of becoming the first Japanese-born yokozuna since Wakanohana in 1998.

Ozeki Kisenosato and rank-and-filers Ikioi and Ichinojo shared the lead at 5-0, while Kotoshogiku dropped into a group of nine wrestlers including the yokozuna trio of Hakuho, Harumafuji and Kakuryu at 4-1.

Harumafuji defeated Georgian No. 2 maegashira Tochinoshin (1-4) with an arm bar throw and Kakuryu got an almighty scare before seeing off the threat of plucky komusubi Takarafuji (1-4). Hakuho, the most successful wrestler in sumo history with 35 career championships, rounded off the day’s action with a hard-fought uwatenage win over Bulgarian-born No. 3 maegashira Aoiyama (3-2).

Kisenosato had little trouble in taking out Yoshikaze (1-4), the ozeki bellying out the sekiwake with a textbook yorikiri force-out technique.

Relegation-threatened ozeki Goeido (4-1) had no answer to a barrage of slaps and thrusts and crashed out of a share of the lead after being sent out by No. 1 maegashira Kotoyuki (2-3).

But Mongolian giant Terunofuji, also battling to keep his rank, rebounded from Wednesday’s loss to Ikioi, the ozeki dodging a bullet to take down winless No. 1 maegashira Takayasu at the edge of the ring to improve to 4-1.

Komusubi Tochiozan picked up his first win of the meet, blasting sekiwake Toyonoshima out from behind to leave both grapplers with 1-4 records.

Written by Kyodo