sumo

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 3

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015 , , , , ,

Forget what I said yesterday about Kakuryu’s leg drive. Maybe his foot was asleep. He drove Tochinoshin out today, which is no mean feat. However, Hakuho and Harumafuji just look plain dangerous. They destroyed Takarafuji and Ikioi in short order. Also with 3 wins are maegashiras Jokoryu, Okinoumi, and Arawashi. Jokoryu’s been solid. If he keeps it up we’ll see how he does against better competition. Right now, though, Hakuho and Harumafuji look unstoppable.

Two Ozeki went down today, Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato. Kotoshogiku came up a bit lame on his leg. I hope it’s not too serious but it will seriously hinder his chances at staying among the Ozeki. Kisenosato hung on for dear life against Terunofuji who claimed his second ozeki scalp. For his efforts, he gets to face Hakuho tomorrow who beat him in each of their two meetings in September and November last year.

Aoiyama fell today to Ichinojo who met his fellow sekiwake head on with a strong tachiai and perservered for the yorikiri forceout. Endo had an evenly matched, lively bout against Aminishiki and should have won. Review shows Aminishiki touching with his hand before the pair tumbled off the dohyo into the crowd. But in the heat of the moment, Aminishiki was ruled victor and disappointingly there was no monoii conference to review the decision. As further punishment, Endo will face Harumafuji tomorrow. He may want to pull a Chiyoootori and call in sick.

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 2

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015, Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜) , , , , , , ,

Kakuryu was the first yokozuna to fall today. His knee seemed to give when he was pushed to the edge of the dohyo. Given yesterday’s stumble, I’m wondering how healthy his knee is. He didn’t seem to get much drive against Takarafuji. He’s scheduled to take on Tochinoshin tomorrow who, despite the past injury, has a lot of power in his legs. For his part, he put up a valiant effort against Hakuho today so I’m going to pick him over a weakened Kakuryu tomorrow.

Harumafuji is looking on top of his game. He quickly dispatched Takayasu, revenge for the out-of-control spill over the summer? Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato both picked up wins but Goeido dropped his bout to Terunofuji. Aminishiki picked up a good throw victory against Ichinojo and Endo lost to Aoiyama. Endo immediately went back to view the replay of his match because I’m sure he thought Aoiyama stepped out. Replays show Aoiyama danced along the straw bails, letting Endo fall to the floor. He was never out.

So far, it’s looking like Harumafuji, Hakuho, Kisenosato, and Aoiyama will be battling for the title. They’re looking pretty fierce.

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 1 Preview

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015, Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜) , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Day 1 matchups are out and popular powerhouses Ichinojo and Endo are scheduled to face off in what will be their first meeting and surely a highlight showdown, whatever the outcome. Endo started off poorly but finished strongly in the last tournament, garnering 10 wins and moving up to Maegashira 3. He’ll be facing much stiffer competition this week. Essentially, the Phenom from 2013 starts off 2015 with this match against the Phenom from 2014.

The other sekiwake/M3 matchup features Sekiwake Aoiyama battling Aminishiki. These two have a fairly even rivalry, with Aoiyama having the slight edge of 5 wins to 4 for the elder statesman. Aoiyama has won the last two matches and is my favorite for this bout. He’s been on a roll lately and you can watch him aggressively dominate Aminishiki in their last meeting in November. Sometimes Aminishiki seems to take bouts off like this one. We’ll see which Aminishiki shows up Sunday.

Goeido has owned Ikioi with 6 wins and 1 loss since their first bout in 2013. Goeido faces the pressure of demotion and cannot afford to lose against rank-and-filers. But, Ikioi always seems to give it his all so this will be the upset I’m watching for.

Terunofuji has faced Kotoshogiku twice in his career and won both. Like Goeido, Kotoshogiku is facing demotion and this bout could set the tone for his tournament. He seems to go all in when his ozeki-ship is on the line so I do think he’ll get his first win over Terunofuji.

Kisenosato is the one solid ozeki. He’s usually a lock for a winning record and often tallies double-digit wins as he did last tournament. He’s often in the running early for the tournament. He also leads in the head-to-head against Takarafuji and I see him doing very well again this month.

The trio of yokozuna will likely all win. I’m really looking forward to Harumafuji vs Tochinoshin as I generally root for both. But Harumafuji has been dominant in their head-to-head, having won the last 10 meetings dating back to Hatsubasho 2011, and 13 wins in 17 bouts overall. Kakuryu has been similarly dominant against Takayasu. Takayasu won two gold stars last tournament…but it was Kakuryu preventing the sweep. He’s beaten the fresh Komusubi in each of their last five and seven of their nine total meetings. Lastly, Tochiozan has been no challenge for Hakuho as the yokozuna dominates with 25 wins in 26 meetings. I can imagine Hakuho’s hungry for #33 so I don’t see Tochiozan having much of a chance.

The M4-M16 bouts were pretty well known already as each East rikishi is matched up with their West rival. Of note, Tokitenku faces a stiff challenge on his first bout returning to makuuchi, in the form of Oosunaarashi. Tokitenku had been demoted to Juryo for the November tournament but has returned quickly, courtesy of winning the division with a strong 12-3 record. The Egyptian seemed to be favoring his knees for much of the last tournament so I really hope he has gotten a good rest.

Big thanks to Dosukoi.fr for news and SumoDB for the stats!

Sir Paul and Sumo

Andy kensho kin, Sumo Topics , , , , , ,

Admittedly, this isn’t news. It’s an annecdote from last year’s Fukuoka tournament. I was talking to my wife about this year’s basho and she mentioned how Paul McCartney is a big sumo fan and was a sponsor at last year’s tournament.

Since I learned how affordable it is, I’ve wanted to pay kensho-kin to have my name paraded around when one of my favorite wrestlers prepares to fight. If I am actually successful at starting my own business, I WILL DO IT. I was really surprised that it was so affordable. Apparently, each banner is about $600 which is about 10x cheaper than I thought it would be.

I thought I’d open this up for a poll. I started with the high profile and prize winners from this basho but left it open if anyone wants to suggest others. If I get some real traffic on here, I’ll publish the results. Not sure which wrestler I would sponsor, though. If Homasho makes it back, he’d definitely be on the list.