Yokozuna Kakuryu will be absent from the rest of Hatsu basho, due to an injury to his right leg he suffered before the basho. With a 2-3 score line, he had to own up.
His opponent for day 6, Hokutofuji, gets the freebie.
Kakuryu kyujo as of day 6
Yokozuna Kakuryu will be absent from the rest of Hatsu basho, due to an injury to his right leg he suffered before the basho. With a 2-3 score line, he had to own up.
His opponent for day 6, Hokutofuji, gets the freebie.
…..frick.
Always surprises me how some wrestlers can do so well in practice and at the soken, and then not be able to perform in the basho…
I wonder if the Day 1 win (or Day 2 loss to Mitakeumi) aggravated it past the tipping point.
As someone who ended up with back spasms because I reached for a pen, it really could have been anything. It’s really easy for me to forget that the joints of a rikishi are always under stress because of their extra weight and I imagine their ankles really take a beating.
The back is tricky. Mine went out twice…both times picking up my son. Well, ankles and knees are, too…as Mitakeumi showed.
I get the feeling that what one hears about the Yokozuna in practice may not accurately reflect their abilities.
Bummed…he’s the only Yokozuna I’ve ever seen win in person (2-0) compared to 0-1-1 (Kisenosato) and Hakuho (0-1-1) and have a soft spot for him…I really hope 2019 isn’t his swan song.
I know what you mean. I saw Harumafuji win in Nagoya with a senshuraku showdown with Hakuho. It was awesome and I’ve had a soft spot for the horse ever since.
I would be bummed if I were Hokutofuji. He was on a roll and had a nice payday on the line.
And now his opponent for tomorrow, Mitakeumi, is out too.
That hasn’t been decided yet – his stablemaster said he awaits results from MRI etc., but yes, it looks very likely.
Annoying, as I’ll be there today with a friend and would have liked another dohyo-iri (and potentially to have been able to see purple rain)
I was mulling a “highlight matches to watch on day 6” post, but honestly, there aren’t many exciting matchups, especially with Kakuryu vs. Hokutofuji off the torikumi. I’m sure we’ll see exciting sumo, it’s just that none of the pairings are exactly highly anticipated, given the performances to date.
The funny thing is, I liked the Day 6 matches more than Day 5. There were some stinkers yesterday.
How long before we have to start the Kakuryu intai watch? I imagine that he will have a lot less rope to work with than a certain other Yokozuna received.
I hope he continues his career for a while. Although he is definitely my second favorite active Yokozuna, he is among my top 10 favorite rikishi, so I root for him to get better and come back stronger (just not strong enough to beat my favorite rikishi).
Well, Mainoumi speculated today that Kakuryu will get the “encouragement” ruling from the YDC at the end of this basho. if so, I guess the next basho will become a make-or-break basho for him.
I also wish him good health. He has been my favorite Yokozuna ever since my previous favorite found an uncalled for usage for a karaoke remote control.
I swear I saw that usage in the manual somewhere!
We’ll have to see how past performance plays into it. Kakuryu won two yusho last year and was the “anchor man” for the top division all of last year.