The Economist

Sumo in The Economist

Andy Media Coverage , , ,

The website for The Economist had a little article about sumo last week. Their “Economist Explains” series focused on the rise of foreign wrestlers in sumo’s upper divisions.

The past basho had mixed results for native Japanese wrestlers. Though yusho in the lower divisions were won by Japanese, Hakuho dominated the makuuchi and his only competition (and sole loss) was from Mongolian compatriot, Terunofuji. Also, all Japanese ozeki had lackluster performances, squeaking by with winning records. Further, Endo, Aminishiki, and Chiyootori had devastating knee injuries.

Anyway, interesting article. It doesn’t go much into the recent rise in the sport’s popularity nor does it really compare Mongolian wrestling to sumo which would help explain why Mongolian wrestlers feature so prominently. Personally, I think the foreign competition is making the sport more exciting.

Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium to Host 2019 Rugby World Cup Final

Andy Uncategorized , , ,

I was reading an interesting article in The Economist about how hosting these mega sporting events are not good for the hosting country, particularly for the local area. Many white elephant construction projects go un-used and are poorly maintained afterwards. I think Tokyo may be able to buck that trend by actually putting many of these venues to good use after the games. But the article is also pretty damning in its criticism of the IOC for taking a larger and larger share of television revenues. Tokyo should probably try to negotiate better terms. I’d hate to see the Olympics devolve into showpiece spectacles for dictators.