Ikioi picked up a great, exciting win against crafty Aminishiki. Aminishiki repeated the henka he tried yesterday with Endo. However, Ikioi recovered quickly so Aminishiki charged at Ikioi from the side. Ikioi instinctively grabbed Aminishiki’s arm and threw the geezer out of ring while staying upright himself, showing some poise and skill that’s frankly been lacking from his sumo lately. Importantly, he stays firmly in the yusho race with his next bout scheduled against Endo, tomorrow.
Terunofuji showed everyone that Ichi the Hutt was a flash in the pan while the ozeki is the real deal. Terunofuji remains undefeated by virtue of his utter dominance. He just dragged the maegashira backwards and plumped the porker off the dohyo. Kakuryu is still one back, tied with Ikioi, as Takarafuji displayed 0 resistance. I have a feeling there will be little resistance shown against the yokozuna until a Day 15 yusho-showdown. Okinoumi destroyed Kisenosato’s yusho hopes with a clever pirouette on the edge. The big ozeki falls to 7-2 by allowing the nimble komusubi to twist at the edge, leaving the ozeki to fall to off the dohyo first.
Yoshikaze’s not in the hunt but he’s producing some great sumo and putting himself in line for a special prize. Today he notched another upset against sekiwake Myogiryu. He was plainly the more powerful wrestler today. He stayed balanced as Myogiryu tried several throws, and worked the sanyaku veteran to the edge and off the dohyo. Great bout. Osunaarashi also picked up a great upset against Tochiozan, who’s officially in a funk after four straight losses. This was the first meeting of these two wrestlers. Osunaarashi started beating on Tochi-from-Kochi but won by grabbing the belt, and flinging Tochiozan out on his butt.
Amuru advances to 5-4, dropping Kaisei to 3-6. Amuru absorbed Kaisei’s initial charge and used the elevated bales to control Kaisei’s momentum. Then, with skill and considerable strength for someone at such a weight disadvantage, he worked his way to control the center of the ring and forced Kaisei out. However, I’m still upset that at this level and in a sold out tournament, there’s no kensho-kin.
How is Sadanofuji still in this? I figured for sure he’d pull out yesterday as he went make-koshi. But he showed up and Aoiyama bulled through to a quick win. I still think Sadanofuji’s left leg is injured though the way he withstood Tochinoshin’s kicks yesterday did make me think he can support more weight than I thought. I just don’t see any power in that leg but I could be imagining things.
In the least anticipated faux-zeki “battle”, Kotoshogiku powered Goeido into the front row. Goeido falls to 4-5, Kotoshogiku climbs to 7-2, still with an extremely outside chance at the yusho.