Hat tip to the folks at GSB. One last check of twitter before I hit the sack and I see this bombshell at the top of my feed:
As Leonid’s pointed out in the comments, it’s not been official yet in that it’s not listed on the official Sumo Kyokai website under absent rikishi but I figure the NHK is an excellent source. Tochinoshin has been having a dreadful ozeki comeback, now 0-6 with the fusen loss.
The aggravated knee injury from last tournament has not recovered sufficiently for the man to pose any challenge to his competition. Though he was able to pick up the victory he needed to regain his rank, he will now be kadoban. The bout against Asanoyama from last night was a quick one and previous bouts demonstrated he really had little ability to change direction and may have been the deciding factor as he had been more competitive in some of the earlier bouts.
Thanks to our friends at AdjaraSport for a great interview video that I am still in the process of editing for time and context. It is a wide ranging conversation and at one point he does discuss his knee. We hope he rests and recovers soon.
And it’s official… http://sumo.or.jp/EnHonbashoMain/absence/
Sad, expected and necessary. If he can’t heel up, it may just be time to turn out the lights on his career. He will remain, no matter what he chooses, one of my all time favorites and I wish him the best in his recovery and decision on whether to continue in the sport.
Tochi is my hero but if he had persevered he would have been struggling to beat Terunofuji’s 2-13 in May 2016. I wonder if his trip back to Georgia made him reconsider his priorities. He isn’t intending to stay in Japan after retirement and he might be thinking about going home and planting a vineyard.
Georgia’s on his mind
Kyujo, yes, but quit the sport? Nah. Even injured he can compete as a sekitori and that pays the bills. Ex-Ozeki simply don’t walk away after demotion anymore (and he may yet avoid demotion by getting KK in September). Unless his injury is so serious it’s one of those “you won’t walk again if you aggravate it” situations, he won’t give up.