Monday morning in Kyushu saw American sumotori Wakaichiro lose to Asakayama beya’s Kaiseijo. With this loss, Wakaichiro has at least a minimal make-koshi, or losing record. This means that in the January tournament he will appear at a lower rank, but not necessarily back down in Jonidan.
From the start of his sumo career, Wakaichiro has had kachi-koshi in each of his tournaments except the first. But the experience and strength of the rikishi he has been facing in Sandanme have been significantly higher, and some additional training and possibly size will be needed for him to take the next step up the sumo ladder.
Wakaichiro will likely return for his 6th match of the Kyushu tournament on day 11.
Oh, that’s very disappointing for him I’m sure (and for us too!). Maybe he was promoted too quickly? Hopefully he won’t get too discouraged and will “double down” on his training. This is where a smart, thoughtful, sympathetic and helpful stable owner must come into play to guide the youngster.
By all accounts, he is in one of the best stables for developing young talent, and one of his trainers is the legendary Kononishiki, so I have confidence that this is just a tale along this road.
Makekoshi is a part of sumo life. It’s the nature of the banzuke that rikishi will be promoted beyond what they’re capable of handling most of the time. As it should be, because if nobody’s getting challenged, then nobody can excel.
It’s clear that he is facing a different caliber of rikishi now, and he’s not quite ready yet. I am sure that he will improve by January.
He has all of that in Musashimaru. He’ll go far.
This match was a bit unfortunate, because if he had been able to keep the pressure forward I think he would have had the win. He needs to get more practice in regaining his balance when the opponent has him turned around.
https://youtu.be/xyi42mo94-M
There’s a big difference in typical match length and back and forth fighting in Sandanme vs the lower ranks that he’ll have to adjust to. He’s not physically dominant enough to just bully his way up the ranks.