Although the world of sumo usually keeps silent about injuries and the decisions behind them, leaving us fans to speculate, in Ura’s case, the fans are lucky, as there is an oyakata who keeps us relatively informed on the tragic ex-actrobat wrestler.
Inagawa oyakata is a member of Ura’s heya, and he tweets updates about him from time to time. The first tweet appeared on January 23rd:
Good morning. This will become known anyway, so I decided to just come out and tell.
The result of Ura’s medical examination this time is the same as his previous injury – a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Once he settles down, I will talk to him and try to inform you if there is anything to report
This was rather ominous. But today, during the various heya’s senshuraku parties, Inagawa oyakata came up with a new tweet:
Thank goodness… As it is something only the man himself can decide through his worries, all I can do is support him. But when we met, he immediately said “I’m having surgery, and work on my comeback once again”. I’m very happy. Everybody, we’ll be grateful for your continued support!
And I’m very grateful to Inagawa oyakata for these tweets. So the bottom line is: No intai at the moment, but also do not expect to see Ura in the upper divisions any time soon. Better luck this time!
Jeez…sometimes you have to see the writing on the wall…this isn’t a sport where you can move to DH and survive based on the strength of your bat…he’s basically going to have to start from zero when he returns…I wish him the best, but jeez, he’s 27 in June…
doesn’t mean he can’t do somethign great. Have you looked at the ages of the upper ranks currently? I mean hell we JUST had a 34 year old Sekiwake win the Yusho for his first time EVER.
Yeah, and he is only the second oldest first-time winner (Kyokutenho took his first – and last – yusho at 37y8m). Nevertheless, an ACL torn for the second time…
I’m absolutely no expert in this, but something that shocked me many years back was, when in alpine skiing Hilde Gerg did compete in the world championship 2003, despite a torn ACL. I nearly couldn’t believe it, as in soccer such an injury is nearly a death sentence, but the explanation back then was that due to some muscles being very strong for athleates in skiing, those can at least partially compensate the torn ACL. Now there are probably varying degrees for this injury too, but maybe there is something Ura can do with training to strengthen that knee.
But well as you say … its the 2nd time already …
100% sumo is replete with dudes having wonderful careers with who major surgeries on the same knee let’s see there was….and…
I’m just happy that he’s able to have surgery again, and he has a goal to aim for in mind. So one step at a time, no doubt he’ll have a few reassessment points along the way.
There are some medical journal studies saying that the probability of an ACL rupture increases about 5 times after a first ACL repair.
No statistics on whether a second repair changes those odds, not enough incidents in the data set.
Is that for the same ACL? I remember some cases in the past in which someone who ruptured his ACL promptly ruptured his other one. The logic being favoring the one knee, thereby increasing load on the other.
A quick search shows that some American football (and basketball) plays have come back from tearing the same ACL multiple times, but it can’t be easy… https://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/01/09/nfl-rg3-knee-surgeries-others/1820461/
I always think about Derrick Rose when it comes to torn ACLs He has been an absolute superstar in 2011/2012 till he tore his ACL. He has been fighting trouble with that knee ever since. we have 2019 now and he is finally back to being a decent player (all the years between were more or less forgettable), though a farcry from his former superstar self. And he still sits out every other game to rest his knee …
I truly hope Ura will fare better.
All the best to him, I was there the first time he ruptured his ACL, he’d been doing so well on the comeback trail.
Although it’s a different sport, a striker on the football team I support ruptured both his ACLs across 2 seasons, has come back even stronger and was selected for the England team a few months ago. Same age as Ura, hopefully they’ve got the same heart.
Best wishes to Ura. Is he aware of his world wide fan base?
I have no idea. But I think Inagawa oyakata knows that his tweets are being translated to English. Well, mostly because I thanked him directly. :-) So he might inform Ura about it.