November Tournament 2014

November Tournament: Day 6

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , , ,

Suddenly, all eyes are on a Giant killer — Takayasu? Wait, what? Wow.

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Takayasu’s victory over the previously unbeaten Hakuho creates a brand new story line leading into Day 7 of the November Tournament. Takayasu benefited earlier this week from Harumafuji stepping out of bounds, so he picked up a gold star. It was actually the third he’d won off Harumafuji. But today he picked up potentially the biggest win of his career so far by knocking off Hakuho. Recently, Oosunaarashi was able to knock off two yokozuna in a row – particularly remarkable as it was the first two yokozuna he’d faced – but senior yokozuna Hakuho was able to put him in his place. Since both have had great matches together. It’s good to see Oosunaarashi’s aggression up against Hak.

Not only does Takayasu’s win put Hakuho’s 32nd yusho into doubt, it also raises the possibility that, should he pull off another stunning upset tomorrow against Kakuryu, Takayasu can claim gold stars from all three yokozuna in the same tournament. History is not with him. He’s faced Kakuryu 8 times and has only won twice, once when Kakuryu was sekiwake, and again as ozeki. Can he dethrone the yokozuna?

If Takayasu does pull it off tomorrow, the yusho would be a wide open contest as there are now seven wrestlers with one loss: from low-ranked maegashira like Sokokurai, Arawashi and Kyokutenho, middling maegashira Okinoumi, Toyonoshima, and Tochinoshin, ozeki Kisenosato, and now super-zuna Hakuho. The next few days should feature loads of great matchups.

Harumafuji and Kakuryu both won, Kakuryu having avenged himself against Ichinojo in a marathon bout that could leave him exhausted. Kisenosato’s one loss came after just such a grueling victory. For his part, Kisenosato was able to win a close one against Tochiozan, the outcome decided after a monoii.

Aoiyama (4-2) has been FIERCE. I like this Aoiyama. He was able to hand Ikioi his fifth loss. He’s not had much success against Goeido in the past, losing 9 of 10 meetings, but he’s been strong this tournament while Goeido has struggled a bit. I’m still hopeful for Ikioi to get kachi-koshi after he’s been through the sanyaku gauntlet. He’s got Ichinojo (3-3) tomorrow and surely a hungry Kakuryu after that but things should ease off a bit.

Goeido and Kotoshogiku have been struggling early in this tournament, and both stand at 3-3. Like Ikioi, they should benefit from weaker opposition in the second half of the tournament.

Kyokutenho will face a challenge in Endo who has struggled of late but is very talented and certainly capable of the win.

November Tournament: Day 5

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , ,

Kakuryu contines to contest Hakuho for the tournament title. Both stand undefeated at 5-0. Harumafuji (3-2) continues his dominance over Ikioi (1-4) but his strength of schedule should ease off a bit in a few days since he’s already faced all the Ozeki and two of the three yokozuna. He’s got Aoiyama tomorrow and surely Kakuryu and Ichinojo after that. But from there he should start picking up wins and still has a good chance of getting kachi-koshi.

His fellow Komusubi, Takekaze, is also on a 1-4 record so at least they’ve gotten important wins in the first few days. Both sekiwake, Ichinojo and Aoiyama have been strong at 3-2. Their head-to-head went to Ichinojo but hopefully both will do well enough over the next 10 days to stay in their ranks. The top maegashira have also all picked up important wins in the first third of the tournament and will hopefully improve their records as they face lower-ranked opposition.

The Ozeki, however, have all racked up losses, especially Kotoshogiku (2-3). With those three losses, he faces Takekaze tomorrow and has yet to face a single ozeki or yokozuna. He will struggle to get kachi-koshi. Goeido didn’t start out strong but has picked up important wins over the past three days. He’ll have a tough one tomorrow against Aminishishiki. Meanwhile, Kisenosato has looked really strong this tournament, despite picking up his first tournament loss against Aoiyama. That’s not entirely unexpected, though, as Aoiyama has kind of owned the Ozeki this year, now having won 4 of their last 5 meetings. I should have put more weight behind their recent record rather than predicting Goeido as the ozeki upset.

Down in the Maegashira, Tochinoshin has been strong and faces Jokoryu though there’s still lingering concern over his knees. Okinoumi and Kyokutenho are both one loss off pace but are great to watch. Endo is still winless against Jokoryu and faces Toyonoshima tomorrow.

November Tournament: Day Three

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , , , , ,

Harumafuji is my favorite Yokozuna. When I looked at the schedule and saw he was facing Takayasu, I got a little chill. Before Tuesday, Harumafuji had given up two kinboshi (gold stars) to Takayasu. Now, he’s given up his third kinboshi to Takayasu by accidentally stepping out of the dohyo. Before I continue, I must give a shout out to the SumoDB at SumoGames. They have fabulous data and a wonderful tool for drilling into historical tournament results. I queried the head-to-head record and saw Takayasu’s two victories against Harumafuji. Now, though, you’ll see three, this latest by the unusual kimarite of isamiashi:

Screenshot (39): http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&shikona1=Harumafuji&shikona2=Takayasu

Both of the other Yokozuna won. Hakuho looks particularly hungry for this tournament. He’s been battling with some intense aggression. Goeido got his first victory against Ikioi who’s still looking for his first sanyaku win. Ichinojo’s size advantage was noticeably absent against Aoiyama but he still proved the better grappler. Kotoshogiku lost but Kisenosato stays unbeaten. Happily, Endo picked up his first victory of the tournament but Osunaarashi lost again and he seems a bit unstable on that left knee. Tochinoshin picked up his third win in his return to the makuuchi. He seems right at home among the big boys.

November Tournament: Day One

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), November Tournament 2014 , , , ,

It’s here! The November Tournament kicked off today with several story lines and some very interesting matchups, not least is Ichinojo’s first bout in the sanyaku, against this man, Yokozuna Harumafuji (photo: SumoKyokai).  Harumafuji seemed to catch Ichinojo off-guard, aggressively going right at the youngster and quickly pushing him off the edge of the dohyo. It’s good to see Harumafuji coming back so strongly off that eye injury.

harumafujiObviously, another storyline everyone’s following is Hakuho’s pursuit of his 32nd title. It’s amazing that this story seems to play second fiddle – but such is the hype around Ichinojo. Ikioi met Hakuho with a strong tachiai, and at one point seemed like he might have the yokozuna a bit off balance, but Hakuho was just too agile and too powerful. He quickly asserts control and bulled Ikioi out.

Endo’s first match of this tournament was against Tochinoshin, who’s been dominant in the lower divisions — even beating Ichinojo twice to get a perfect 15-win championship in Juryo. Endo’s heart was in it but Tochinoshin used his size advantage for all it was worth and garnered the win. These three battles neatly hit on all my key storylines for this tournament and I’m really looking forward to following their performances over the next fortnight.