Today’s semifinals were somewhat anticlimactic. First, Daiyusho pushed out Aratakayama without meeting much resistance to win by oshidashi. Then, Shimazuumi absorbed a few shoves from Kitanowaka and then pushed him out to also win by oshidashi. So it’ll be the former maegashira on the road back from injury against a much less accomplished opponent for all the marbles on day 13. If Daiyusho can buck the odds and live up to his shikona, it’ll be the biggest achievement of his career.
Here’s how things stand in the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone:
Kitanowaka is sure to return to the paid ranks for the first time since his January injury. Five others have secured their kachi-koshi, and Mudoho and Kamito could still join them. The promotion order is roughly as follows: Kitanowaka is in, Takakento, Nagamura, Otsuji and Wakanosho can each stake a strong claim with another win, Goshima needs two, while Kamito and Mudoho must win out and hope for help. Wakanosho and Goshima fight H2H tomorrow, and Kamito will try to stay alive against Shohoryu.
In Juryo the only clear demotion case belongs to absent Endo, but Kyokukaiyu, Miyanokaze, Shiden, Takarafuji, Nishinoryu and Kayo have work to do to stay in the paid ranks.
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Tsurugisho and Tamashoho also don’t seem on safe ground yet. That could end in NINE free spots for makushita rikishi. (That’s only a theoretical possibility, of course, because there will be quite a few matches between these „contenders“.)
Yeah, technically Hakuyozan and Asasuiryu aren’t quite safe either, but I didn’t list these four because one more win guarantees safety, and it’s quite likely they’ll stay even if they lose the last 4.
And there really aren’t that many possible head-to-head matches still available. The eight demotion candidates from Tsurugisho downward have already fought in 26 out of 28 combinations, only Tsurugisho-Takarafuji and Tsurugisho-Nishinoryu haven’t taken place yet. Kayo and Tamashoho higher up do still have lots of possibilities, they’ve only fought each other so far and none of the other eight. (Tamashoho has Shiden tomorrow to get the ball rolling.)
Quite the logjam for promotion candidates, isn’t it? It’ll be interesting to see how things end up at the bottom of Juryo and what the banzuke committee will decide after the basho is over.
Wow, that’s quite a demotion list to read. Am I correct Endo is going to make a comeback or is intai a possibility?
He hasn’t said anything, but there’s a lot of speculation around intai—he has a kabu, and we can only speculate how much appetite he has for a comeback from the lower divisions at 35 after major knee surgery.
If Takarafuji is going down, he might probably go intai.
And yes, DaiYUSHO is a nice shikona, if he wins a yusho, it will be Daiyusho’s yusho :)