The first two rounds of bouts, unfolding over the first four days, have whittled down the field to 29 undefeated rikishi. Scroll down to see the list. I don’t see any same-heya conflicts for round 3, so the contenders should be paired up in rank order on days 5 and 6, with the odd man out, Ms59w Aratakayama, facing the highest-ranked undefeated Sandanme rikishi, Sd2e Oyamatoumi.
The undefeated bracket includes former maegashira Enho, Yago, Bushozan, Shimazuumi and Kitanowaka, as well as interesting prospects such as March Ms60TD debutant Goshima, Fujinokawa’s brother Ikarigata, and Hoshoryu’s cousin Tenrosei. I hope to keep tabs on the race here after each round of bouts is completed.
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Kitanowaka returning to Juryo? I wouldn’t mind and I hope he has a better run this time. Who are you keeping an eye on as favorites?
A favorite? With that formula, which ends in a „final“ with in any case one rikishi from the second half of the banzuke, it’s a sheer lottery. Of the 404 yusho winners since 1958 only a fifth was placed in the „joi“ (Ms1 -Ms5).
Fun fact: nine men have had back to back yusho, one of them being our friend Abi.
That said, the obvious wrestler to watch, even more for a sekitori promotion, has to be Goshima, who is only in his fourth basho and who spots an 18-5 career record. There are doubts though, because in July he only scraped four wins together.
(My guess btw is Noda and not only because he is already 3-0 by now…)
He was a solid sekitori before his January injury, so yeah, 3-0 at Ms1w is looking good for a return, and he has to be one of the favorites. I might have more of a take tomorrow when we know everyone who’s 3-0.
My favorite in the division has to be Tenrosei, since I support Shikoroyama Beya, because he’s climbing the Banzuke steadily. No insult intended to the stablemates he is passing.
Sadly he’s out of the undefeated bracket now.
Why doesn’t NHK have the highlights today? That’s where I watch. This is the first time it’s been a problem.
No idea, but strangely enough, Peacock doesn’t have today’s track world champs replay, and they’re also in Tokyo. Hmm.
If you are watching via cable like I do… have no fear, they forgot to update the program guide. It is still airing at it’s usual timeslots.
Unfortunately it’s not. I’m watching them on the NHK World Japan web site a day late at this point.