Month: March 2015

March Tournament 2015: Day 10

Andy March Tournament 2015 , , , , , ,

Aminishiki seems to have gone down with a knee injury. It was heartbreaking to see him be unable to walk under his own power. He’d been having an excellent basho and is clearly in line for the technique special prize. He is assured of a winning record, but healthy he could have gotten 10-11 wins. Hopefully it’s not as serious as it looked but I’ll be surprised if he’s not done. With his knees at his age, this might be retirement if he can’t continue.

Speaking of retirement, it was also good to see Homasho being interviewed but a bit odd to see him in a Western suit.

Hakuho leads, followed by Terunofuji. Terunofuji seemed to wait until Kotoshogiku ran out of steam with his leg thrusts and was able to counter, getting the oshidashi victory. Tomorrow he’s up against Kaisei who lost to Harumafuji but certainly gave him a run for his money in a long, tightly contested matchup. Kisenosato’s victory over Goeido meant he was the only Ozeki to win today.

Osunaarashi got an impressive belt win today. He’s certainly not as one dimensional as he seemed last tournament. His knees are not giving him the same problems and he’s getting great power in his legs to match up with his opponents. Gagamaru dropped his first bout in a week but Ikioi bounced back with a win over Arawashi.

March Tournament 2015: Toyonoshima Gold Star!

Andy March Tournament 2015 , , ,
Toyonoshima (Harumafuji)

Toyonoshima’s Gold Star was move of the tournament so far. Harumafuji started with a nodo-wa then aggressively shoved Toyonoshima to the edge…but in an instant he had over committed and Toyonoshima deftly spun around, sending the yokozuna flying into the second row. My words don’t do it justice. It was a truly astonishing turn of events. Thanks to Jason for the video.

Screenshot (60)

March Tournament 2015: Day 8 – Hakuho leads alone

Andy March Tournament 2015 , , , , ,

Gold Star for Tochinoshin! Harumafuji has now given up two this tournament…granted they’re to LEGIT wrestlers, Ichinojo and Tochinoshin…but he still needs to get these wins if he’s to get another yusho. He’s a yokozuna so he doesn’t get the luxury of Stay-Puft marshmallow pushovers.

Tochinoshin (Harumafuji)

Hakuho stands alone at the top of the leaderboard. He’s plainly invincible. A few days ago, against Takayasu, he seemed bored – basically inviting the hapless maegashira to try something, anything to take him down. Perhaps afraid of making Hakuho angry, Takayasu just landed a couple limp-wristed slaps to his face before Hakuho finally pulled him down. The next day, against Tamawashi, Hakuho was able to quickly get a right-handed belt grip and he threw the komusubi across the ring. Today, more of the same. He met Toyonoshima with a strong tachiai and then quickly forced him out behind what must be a killer nodo-wa throat grab. Tomorrow, he faces Aoiyama. Someone he’s never lost to in 10 bouts. Also someone who’s looked out-of-sorts for most of this tournament….seems perfect (almost poetic) setup for an upset.

Harumafuji’s loss to Tochinoshin effectively takes him out of contention. After each of his last two bouts, he’s been flexing his right arm in pain. Seems his elbow may be giving him issues and I won’t be surprised if he goes kyujo tomorrow. Meanwhile, the ozeki have been worthless. Goeido went down again today against Aoiyama. I was very disappointed with Kotoshogiku the other day, not being able to just push Ichinojo over the bales. It seemed the Mongolian was inviting him to try a yorikiri win but just leaned on him and then walked him out the other side. Ozeki need to be able to contend for championships. It looks like at this point next year, certainly by summer 2016, there will be a raft of new Ozeki.

Terunofuji (potentially one of the ozeki-in-waiting) and Aminishiki have been providing great story lines with their undefeated runs. Unfortunately, both lost today, several days before we could really start talking about yusho contention. Meanwhile, Osunaarashi and Gagamaru have been looking great among the lower maegashira. Osunaarashi’s been finding different ways to win, mostly on the belt instead of his forceful slaps. It’s been refreshing.

March Tournament 2015: 7

Andy March Tournament 2015 , ,

Terunofuji is Ter-ring it up. 7-0 against some impressive competition. Today’s bout against Tochinoshin was excellent sumo. Both wrestlers quickly got solid, two-handed belt grips. Against Ichinojo, Tochinoshin is usually able to power through and win these bouts. But Terunofuji was no pushover. The sekiwake was able to gradually move Tochinoshin backwards and over the straw bales.

Tied with Terunofuji are Hakuho and Aminishiki. Aminishiki’s amazing start is especially impressive in the way that he’s been able to win with a different technique each match. It’s been several tournaments since the “technique prize” was awarded so it will be great to see him get it.