Shortly after the beginning of Day 14 at the Kokugikan, it has been announced that Yokozuna Hakuho will be absent as of this day. The official reason has not been published at this time, but Sponichi reports that the right knee, on which he had the operation, may be the culprit.
This will likely leave the Yokozuna’s score at 10-4-1 (except in the unlikely event he returns on senshuraku), with the Yusho to be determined, in all likelihood, between Tamawashi and Takakeisho.
Going kyujo may have further implications, as kyujo rikishi may not participate in public events, and the Hakuho Cup is due early next month.
Tachiai will keep you informed on the situation as it develops.
This also means that Goeido will pick up his 8th win—and avoid going kadoban—by forfeit. And the musubi no ichiban on senshuraku will feature Takayasu vs. someone ranked M6 or lower (I can’t imagine they’d throw 2-win Yoshikaze in there).
If Goeido becomes the only non-kadoban Ozeki because of this then I will tut mildly.
Takayasu could also avoid kadoban by default, depending on what Mitakeumi decides to do.
He does deserve a lot of credit for fighting through it…after that 0-4 start I was sure he’d withdraw…he gets a lot of crap for being kadoban so often but he finds a way…
J13 Jokoryu also went kyujo and will fall to Makushita. Toyonoshima gets the freebie for his 10th victory, which should see him back in Makuuchi!
Dad is going back to the big times!
Oh, WOW! Fingers crossed that this really happens!
Well, that DOES explain a lot…
Takayasu’s last match… Yoshikaze, Chiyotairyu and Onosho are the highest-rated men he hasn’t fought,but Kaisei would be much more fun and Endo would be more popular.
The rival is Kaisei. Goeido will be doing the musubi with Takakeisho.
How unusual is it to have the highest-ranked wrestler (Takayasu) not in the musubi?
Sad Hakuho is out, after a shaky start he looked invincible in the middle of the basho.
When I saw the kyujo news come through I was expecting it to be Mitakeumi, is he really carrying on??
Yep. Apparently he is more myopic than Nishikigi.
At least he didn’t put up much of a resistance…but then why show up? Pride? Or hoping for an easy win? Unless he’s thinking about a possible Ozeki run, there’s no difference between 8, 9, or 10 wins…
I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
2 thumbs down? Suresh…
Sorry, i mean Sheesh!
Pay no attention to the downvoting monster…
Just finished watching day 14. Now that Mitakeumi already had 8 wins, it did not seem like he used 110% effort against Takayasu. I believe he is showing sumo spirit by continuing to participate but being careful at the same time.
I would rather he took care of that injury. It may well be that Haru 2019 will be Mitakeumi’s last san-yaku performance, all because of this decision.
I agree with Herouth. Mitakeumi is fighting for nothing more than pride at this point. He’s not in an Ozeki run, and he’s not starting one now.
Hakuho’s current right knee injury at least makes medical sense.
Previously the reports added up to a partial fracture at the point where the patellar ligament attaches to the tibia.
He forgoes treatment to fully heal the partial fracture, reports arthroscopic surgery to remove a few bone chips, and comes back better than ever.
That was a nice story. Too good to be true?
Might it be that an untreated partial fracture, didn’t spontaneously heal during jungyo?
There have been reports of blood clots in the knee.
Ah, I was sure I added the full medical report last night… Hematoma in the right knee, arthritis in the left foot.
Not sure what you mean. The fracture was about that bone fragment. It has been removed. Also some free debris from his right ankle. Where is the party that doesn’t work?
Hi Herouth, The typical bone chip causing knee pain, are small pieces of bone or cartilage deep in the knee joint – something that breaks off of the femur end, or back of the kneecap.
The partial fracture at the “tibial tubercle” was initially a green-stick sort of thing (I think, or maybe imagined that it was semi-attached to the bone). If it did progress to produce a cleanly broken off chip, then it should have been hanging onto the end of the patellar tendon, and not floating around inside the knee joint. If they removed that one, then they gave up hope of reattaching it, and have decided to accept living with a weaker tendon attachment.
I’ll stop speculating further about it. Its sort of depressing to think about what sort of choices could be made to allow these guys to get back in action more quickly. Reduces the fun of viewing.
I remember one of the contributers, maybe Bruce, at one time said sumo is very Darwinian. No more clearly illustrated than Hatsu 19.
Part of its charm, at least to me.
With Takakeisho and Tamawashi as the contenders a historic yusho is guaranteed. If Tamawashi wins he will be the second oldest yusho winner after Kyokutenho. If Takakeisho wins it will be the first time in recorded history that a non-ozeki won a second consecutive yusho, fulfilling the requirement for promotion to yokozuna while being ineligible on account of rank.
Chiyonofuji won his last basho at 35 and 5 month or so, so he was older. If we talk about second oldest for his first victory that could be right, but I’m truly too lazy to check ;)