Congratulations to Kotooshu for winning the Summer Sumo Basho in Tokyo. He’s the first European ever to win a professional sumo tournament. And what makes it especially sweet is he did it with only one loss and he beat both Yokozuna …. Asashoryu and Hakuho.
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Asashoryu won his sixth tournament in a row.
Kotooshu lost his last three bouts but he ended the tournament with a 12-3 record and set several new sumo records. So good job!!
As I mentioned before, Asashoryu is hoping to win this tournament and set a new record by winning six tournaments in a row. But he lost his first bout which is not a good sign. Well, it’s now day 11 and Asashoryu hasn’t lost another bout, which is good.
However, Kotooshu (the handsome Bulgarian rikishi … and Greta’s boyfriend) is currently undefeated!! 11 wins — 0 losses! Since this tournament was his debut at the Sekiwake level he is now in the record books with the best Sekiwake debut since they started the 15-day tournament schedule back in the 1950s. And the two guys who had the best Shin-Sekiwake (new Sekiwake) records before him both went on to become Yokozuna!
Tonight … ohhhh tonight … Kotooshu had his first top-level opponent, Tochiazuma (an Ozeki). Who himself has been having a pretty good tournament with a 8-2 record. Kotooshu wins! Not only does he win but he retains control throughout the bout and soundly defeats Tochiazuma.
Next up was the last bout of the day, the Yokozuna, Asashoryu against Aminishiki (a lower-ranked guy who hasn’t been doing to well). We’re all ready for Asashoryu to dish out the usual ass-whoopin. But no. He get’s over confident and Aminishiki keeps his whits about him and he manages to leg trip Asashoryu and dump him on this butt! The Yokozuna looked stunned. I almost thought he’d break out laughing … “I got beat by Aminishiki”.
This means that Asashoryu is now tied with several other guys at 9-2 while Kotooshu is the sole leader at 11-0. With only four days to go Kotooshu looks poised to win his first Emperor’s Cup.
Kotooshu. Gambatte kudasai!!
This is going to be an interesting basho! Asashoryu, the lone Yokozuna and quite the badass, is trying to win his sixth tournament in a row. If he does it he’ll tie a record set back in the 1960′s, but that guy did it twice.
No one has won seven tournaments in a row.
Asashoryu usually mode is to start a tournament strong and only start slowing down toward the end. However, today he lost his first bout to Futeno, a guy who’s only been in the top division since March of 2004.
The bout was a really good one too, Asashoryu tried several times to upset his opponent but each time Futeno fought back. Finally, Futeno turned it on and powered Asashoryu out of the ring. The crowd just erupted, filling the ring and the air with purple cushions.
I’m about to go set up the VCR to tape the first day of the September Sumo Basho. Sometimes it seems like it’s been a year since the last one, but it’s only been two months.
The September tournament is being held in the Kokugikan in Tokyo and it should be a really good competative one if Asashoryu fights like he did last time.
For more info check out the Sumo Kyokai’s website and for the uninitiated check out Sumo Goo, which is chock full of interesting info about sumo.
You can view this tournament’s banzuke here.