The bouts for Friday have just been posted. A few items of note (all records as of Day 11):
- The maegashira who currently have 1 or 2 losses have been paired up. It’s M4 Shodai (10-1) vs. M11 Kagayaki (9-2) and M17 Tokushoryu (10-1) vs. M9 Yutakayama (9-2). This means that Tokushoryu won’t face anyone ranked above M8 before the final weekend.
- The only upper-rank yusho contender, Ozeki Takakeisho (9-2), starts his matchups against his closest peers with a bout against West Sekiwake Takayasu (4-7), presumably to be followed by East Sekiwake Asanoyama (6-5) on Saturday and fellow Ozeki Goeido (4-7) on senshuraku.
- The other highlight bout might be the M2 derby between Hokutofuji (8-3) and Mitakeumi (7-4).
(Plans sake supplies accordingly)
also, Abi v Enho… could be fun…
What’s the status on the injured shinpan? Ex Ozeki kaio
Seems ridiculous that Tokushoryu won’t play anyone higher than M9 until day 14. And Shodai hasn’t played any of the following Endo, Mitakeumi, Tamawashi, Okimoumi or increasingly genki looking Onosho.
Something similar happened when Asanoyama won. He didn’t play senior players until very late and then the judges did a royal screw up in his match against Tochinoshin.
I tend to agree about Tokushoryu. I don’t think one can fault Shodai’s schedule, though. In the first few days, no one could know he would be in the yusho race. Since then, he’s fought both Ozeki, both Sekiwake, and both Komusubi, plus Hokutofuji. And the other maegashira he has fought are not exactly pushovers. He’ll probably get Endo on Day 14.
His schedule so far has been harder than Takakeisho’s, who of course faces his toughest opponents in the last 3 days.
Takakeisho’s schedule looks standard. He has played all top Maegashira and Komusibi. In the last 3 days he will take on the two Sekiwake and the other Ozeki.
Shodai hasn’t played with any Maegashira higher than him except for Hokutofuji. On day 13, he plays Kagayaki, and then maybe even Tokushoryu if both keep on winning. That will mean only one more top Maegashira.
After an 8-1 record, they matched him up with Shohozan on the 10th day. I wonder why they didn’t pair him with a higher Maegashira then.
They were all either fighting each other, or matched up against san’yaku wrestlers: http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Results.aspx?b=202001&d=10
Do my eyes deceive me or have the schedulers got Ura (Jd28e) up visiting Sandanme?! He’s doing great this basho; this seems like a hopeful sign that maybe, someday, years from now, if the Great Sumo Cat is kind, we will get the Ura-Enho paid-ranks bout that needs to happen…
It’s a standard thing, since there are 3 undefeated guys in both Sandanme and Jonidan, to match them up in this way. Ura should be heavily favored to win this bout and then the Jonidan playoff.
If he stays healthy, it might not take years. Assuming he can finish 7-0, he’ll be ranked in the low 30s in Sandanme in March. Another 7-0 there would take him up to around Makushita 23 (which is exactly what happened during his last comeback, when he got re-injured at that rank). Two more strong tournaments and he’s in Juryo, quite possibly by the end of 2020.
Ohh, I like this math. I like it very much indeed. Of course I just watched Day 13’s Abi-Enho bout and now can imagine nothing more amazing than that, so…
That was INCREDIBLE! I yelled “Whoa” and had to watch a bunch of replays. Enho’s retort to being picked up and carried out by Tochinoshin.