As expected, Hakuho’s big toe injury is still causing him problems, and in an abundance of caution, he has decided to not compete in Osaka’s Haru basho. This is the first time in his career that he has been kyujo for two consecutive tournaments. He underwent surgery to repair this same toe in 2016, which caused him to miss the Aki basho.
While some fans may wonder why problems with a single toe might be cause to withdraw, in sumo all power is transmitted to the dohyo via the feet. The role of the toes, and most especially the “big toe” (or as the Japanese call it, the foot thumb) is crucial in maintaining balance while in motion.
This leaves Yokozuna Kakuryu as the only Yokozuna who will start the Haru basho.
We hope Hakuho is able to recover and re-join competition in May.
Sensible decision and scary toe :o
Hope he can heal up, I’d guess there are still a couple of records he could set
As a bloke who’s had more broken big toes than I care to remember, I’m not surprised he’s out. A badly broken toe makes even walking a real pain, and I certainly couldn’t bear the thought of having to plant my feet with enough force to push a 200kg guy around… yeesh.
Thing is, he had bouts with Kaisei about 3 days ago. That’s over 200kg. And he won 10 out of 10. Never mind throwing Enho around like he was a rag doll or doing squats with his trainer lying across his shoulders. So… the toe has improved considerably since that photo was taken.
As opposed to Bruce, I don’t believe that toe is really a significant issue at this moment. I think, as Israeli military slang goes, he has a pain in his “Seniority Bone”. As soon as he improves the state of his lower body muscles, enough for a no-tricks-no-schticks tachiai, I think that toe will miraculously heal. He has been doing squats like mad in the past week or so, but he should have been doing them for the past three months or so instead, and maybe added some weights for good measure.
Herouth is most likely correct. But I am reporting the story as the press has it.
Anybody think this is simply payback to the sumo councils that commented loudly that didn’t like the way he conducted himself after his last win.
How is he paying them back? You think they suffer when he doesn’t show up for basho? It mostly pains his fans, and I don’t think he has many of those in the YDC.
Hakuho only needs to fight when he thinks he’s pretty certain to win and if that means that he takes two or three bashos off then the YDC will have to accept it. They can hardly demand that he returns to action when Kisenosato has failed to complete a tournament in a year owing to an injury that isn’t going to get any better.
Many will disagree, but I maintain the YDC needs Hakuho more than he needs them. He’ll continue to take off unless he’s completely healthy and like tigerboy said, there’s not a thing they can do. His fans will still remain faithful regardless of how many tournaments he skips.