The leadership ranks continue to narrow as Kyokushuho loses to Takayasu, handing Takayasu his kachi-koshi. Now, only Hakuho and Kaisei remain in the lead with one loss. Hakuho has not lost since the opening day shocker against Ichinojo.
Kisenosato and Terunofuji remain in contention, tied at 8-2 with rank-and-filers Takayasu, Kyokushuho, and Okinoumi. Kaisei’s victory over Amuru means the Russian needs to try again tomorrow for his all important 8th win. It won’t be easy as he’ll face Takayasu.
After yesterday’s careless kinboshi loss to Tamawashi, Harumafuji gives up another one and falls further off the yusho pace. This time Gagamaru benefits from Harumafuji’s generosity. In 8 bouts against maegashira wrestlers, this is now the third kinboshi. Tomorrow, Harumafuji faces Goeido.
The build-up during the tachiai was certainly more dramatic than the actual bout. Tochinoshin dominated early, going for a quick throw which was rebuffed. But the momentum was clearly against Gagamaru. Once Tochinoshin had Gagamaru on the edge, he displayed his prodigious strength by lifting his 200 kilo compatriot over the straw bales. It’s always painful to watch him do this against Ichinojo but he’s certainly capable with those massive thighs. With this critical win securing a winning record he’ll probably jump a spot or two to M1 or M2 next tournament. Much hay was made of Robert Myers’ massive quads during the NFL combine but those writers have never seen the likes of Tochinoshin or Kotoshogiku.
Tochinoshin Gives Me a 2nd-Hand Hernia
This loss for Gagamaru ended a four-bout winning streak which began with an impressive win over Osunaarashi and continued through Ikioi, Kaisei, and Kyokutenho – certainly not cream puffs. I’m glad to see Gagamaru back and on form. He’ll be back in the mid-maegashira next tournament. As he’ll be battling more upper-maegashira and even sanyaku wrestlers, he’ll likely not get double-digit wins but he’s back where he belongs. In the meantime, he’ll be joined by Osunaarashi and Chiyootori who also had excellent tournaments…but will face stark reality in May.
Terunofuji beat Hakuho in a pretty evenly contested bout. If anything, Terunofuji was the dominant wrestler, able to control position and pace. Each had a one-handed belt grip but in the end, he was able to use his size advantage to force out the yokozuna. The crowd erupted, and Hak just looked stunned.
Hakuho returns to the dohyo among flying zabuton
Terunofuji came to ball. He still needs help though, to compete for the yusho as Hakuho sits on a one-win lead going into Day 14. Also, if he wins, I think there will be an asterisk next to the yusho as he does not compete against Harumafuji and other wrestlers from his heya and Kakuryu is out. However, in the head-to-head match, there’s no denying his strong victory.
The leaderboard:
Hakuho: 12-1
Terunofuji: 11-2
Harumafuji: 10-3
Gagamaru: 10-3
Yes, that’s Gagamaru tied with Harumafuji, 2 wins off pace. He’s been able to use his girth to dominate the lower ranks of the maegashira. It will be great to see him get a special prize after having been in Juryo for much of the last year.
Gold Star for Tochinoshin! Harumafuji has now given up two this tournament…granted they’re to LEGIT wrestlers, Ichinojo and Tochinoshin…but he still needs to get these wins if he’s to get another yusho. He’s a yokozuna so he doesn’t get the luxury of Stay-Puft marshmallow pushovers.
Tochinoshin (Harumafuji)
Hakuho stands alone at the top of the leaderboard. He’s plainly invincible. A few days ago, against Takayasu, he seemed bored – basically inviting the hapless maegashira to try something, anything to take him down. Perhaps afraid of making Hakuho angry, Takayasu just landed a couple limp-wristed slaps to his face before Hakuho finally pulled him down. The next day, against Tamawashi, Hakuho was able to quickly get a right-handed belt grip and he threw the komusubi across the ring. Today, more of the same. He met Toyonoshima with a strong tachiai and then quickly forced him out behind what must be a killer nodo-wa throat grab. Tomorrow, he faces Aoiyama. Someone he’s never lost to in 10 bouts. Also someone who’s looked out-of-sorts for most of this tournament….seems perfect (almost poetic) setup for an upset.
Harumafuji’s loss to Tochinoshin effectively takes him out of contention. After each of his last two bouts, he’s been flexing his right arm in pain. Seems his elbow may be giving him issues and I won’t be surprised if he goes kyujo tomorrow. Meanwhile, the ozeki have been worthless. Goeido went down again today against Aoiyama. I was very disappointed with Kotoshogiku the other day, not being able to just push Ichinojo over the bales. It seemed the Mongolian was inviting him to try a yorikiri win but just leaned on him and then walked him out the other side. Ozeki need to be able to contend for championships. It looks like at this point next year, certainly by summer 2016, there will be a raft of new Ozeki.
Terunofuji (potentially one of the ozeki-in-waiting) and Aminishiki have been providing great story lines with their undefeated runs. Unfortunately, both lost today, several days before we could really start talking about yusho contention. Meanwhile, Osunaarashi and Gagamaru have been looking great among the lower maegashira. Osunaarashi’s been finding different ways to win, mostly on the belt instead of his forceful slaps. It’s been refreshing.
