It is with no small measure of surprise that Team Tachiai report that Yokozuna Hakuho, “The Boss” has withdrawn from the September tournament on day 2. This gives Abi a fusensho win for a match that would have been a tough run for the Komusubi.
At the moment, there is no report of injury or cause for his kyujo, but perhaps he was injured in his day 1 kinboshi loss to Hokutofuji. Source media reports from Twitter below:
I grimly note that I picked Hakuho to take the cup this time, possibly with a 15-0 result. In my opinion, the biggest beneficiary from this move may be Takakeisho, who might have not quite had the fire power to overcome Hakuho in his bid to get to 10 wins and regain Ozeki.
TFW Andy’s prediction suddenly becomes more plausible than yours. 🤣
Oh no! Thank God I never actually said I would do the buttock stir fry.
Maybe he just entered to do the dohyo-iri? (Not serious. Well, half serious).
It’s a good thought.
Update: Hakuho broke his pinky finger, the reason for his withdrawal.
That must’ve been a hard face slap.
I broke my finger playing golf so I can’t say anything.
HOLEY CRAP BATMAN! i was screaming the house down for Hokutofuji, and i knew Hakuho was mightily displeased with himself and the result, but i sure didn’t see this coming! certainly can’t compete with proken pinky. what bad luck for the boss. hope it heals well.
Abi’s a lucky boy! That is now 3 freebie fusensho wins he has received in this calendar year…
And given the thrashing he received from Hakuho in the keiko-soken, he must be very relieved.
Isn’t he also the only one with a shot at 6 kachi-koshi over this calendar year.
Tomokaze?
…in makuuchi
Kyujo reason: He hurt the pinky in his right hand last basho when he fought Shodai. He then re-injured it during the Isegahama ichimon joint keiko, which took place shortly before the Aki basho.
…That’s his story and he is sticking to it.
Hakuho being kept of the dohyo by a pinky problem does seem a bit incongruous. I’m going to guess that he has been advised that if he re-aggravates the injury the damage will be irreversible and permanent.
I’m going to guess that he realized that if he continues to lose he’ll have to retire here and now, and that he had the pinky as a ready kyujo-excuse. If he had broken or aggravated it yesterday in his bout with Hokutofuji, then yes. Its state changed now, so it’s the reason now. But if it was hurt before the basho, he should not have started the basho. Period. He’s going to be grilled by the YDC for this, and not just by them.
Looking at the replay, Hakuho did land on this right side in the audience, and did shake that right hand with a facial expression afterwards. So he has a least a plausible reason for re-injury.
Takeing nothing away from Hokuto-locuto-moto-fuji though. He came on like a freight train.
Which replay would that be? Miyagino oyakata specifically said he reinjured it prior to the basho, not in the Hokutofuji bout.
Oh I believe that explanation (re-injury prior). It’s just that on Day 1, he landed off-dohyo on right side, and “shook-out” the right hand after getting up. So if they want, they can point to video evidence to support the story that the pain of Day 1 action was enough to convince him that he is unable to continue.
Could be he just wants a vacation, but being such a competitor, I tend to believe the story that he’s truly in no shape to continue.
Well, I believe that if he doesn’t get enough wins, he will not be able to continue until 2020.
He could easily sit out Aki and, if needed, Kyushu, without coming under too much pressure, no? The zensho yusho in March and jun-yusho and July should buy a fair bit of time.
I don’t think it works like that, really. The YDC laid down a new rule when the Kisenosato debacle started to get out of hand: no mid-basho kyujo unless something happened in the basho itself. Don’t start and then pull out due to losses. Also, they are very suspicious of his medical certificates already. He has already had to produce solid evidence twice to counter the criticism. They saw him looking great in the Soken a few days ago, and now he says he’s injured. Grilled he will be.
All good points, although it’s hard to argue that he pulled out due to losses after only 1, no? I could it see it being a bigger deal if he started (say) 0-3…
Not that I necessarily disagree about the YDC’s likely reaction to this withdrawal, but they’re not exactly known for consistency so I don’t think what they said with Kisenosato is much of a barometer.
If he were to sit out Kyushu, he would have won only 68 bouts in the two most recent calendar years. Considering 30 of them came in his two zensho that would mean only 38 in the other ten basho. That doesn’t sound like Yokozuna quality. The fact that he didn’t start several basho, or dropped out early, is on him. It is the prospect that he can come back and win again that is keeping him in the sport, but I think he has to come back in Kyushu and do well, or he will really be under pressure. At the moment, he is a part-time yokozuna.
Such a shame! I hope he recovers well. It was a good win by Hokutofuji, though.
We are swiftly running out of opportunities to see the dai-Yokozuna perform his magic…
According to Kintamayama, Hakuho’s stable master said his finger swelled and he can’t use his right hand at all. He went to the hospital yesterday, and was diagnosed with a fracture. Doesn’t sound like a fake kyujo to me!
Here goes another Japanese Yokozuna.
Meanwhile guys like Tochi, Takakei, Goeido, and others battle on injured far worse. Takayasu HOPES he’s well enough for the next Basho…. and Hakuho pulls out on day 2 with an injured finger….. okay then, guess it’s good to be the king.