Round one of third division bouts concluded today. Who was able to stay in the winners’ bracket?

Sd1e Tokunomusashi defeated Ms60TD Ryusho. Our latest Makushita tsukedashi debutant started with a loss against his 24-year-old opponent, who has 54 basho under his belt and has been ranked as high as Ms5.

Notable winners: May debutant Ms51e Hanaoka (by fusen), former sekitori Ms42w Tochimaru, known for his rapid-fire tsuppari, another May debutant, Ms27w Gyotoku, Hakuho protege Ms21e Seihakuho, another Hakuho protege, former sekitori Ms17e Tenshoho, and March debutant Ms9e Goshima, who now sports a 13-2 career record.

Ms2e Ishizaki defeated Ms3w Kitanowaka. Ishizaki, Asakoryu’s little bro, would have made Juryo with one more win in each of the last 3 basho. Today, he got the better of the former maegashira, who is clearly not all the way back after breaking his ankle in January and sitting out March.

J14e Kotokuzan defeated Ms1w Asanoyama. This has to count as a major upset, despite the difference in divisions. The former Ozeki fell easily to a standard push-pull attack, losing by hikiotoshi to an opponent who did briefly reach the top division in 2022, but who had been toiling in Makushita for over two years before just making it back to Juryo. Asanoyama (1-1) now needs to go 3-2 or better the rest of the way to make a sekitori return.

We now have 56 undefeated third division rikishi. Round two will play out over days 3 and 4, after which we should have our first bracket!