|
Kaio
“the Enigma” Wins in Nagoya
Goes
13-2 to Take
Second
Yusho in Three Basho
by “Yukikaze” for SUMO SHIMPO
With
the winner of the 2000 Nagoya Basho retired, and the dominant
rikishi of the 1990’s on the shelf due to injury, the sumo
faithful came to the Aichi Prefectural Taiikukan with questions in
their minds. But the
Makunouchi rikishi came to Nagoya eager to make their own
lightning. And,
strangely enough - when the storm was over there were just as many
questions as there were answers.
|
CLASSIC FORM – Ozeki #3-East KAIO makes maximum use of his
powerful migi-yotsu attack by swinging mighty yokozuna-West
MUSASHIMARU down and off the dohyo.
The day 14 win sealed his third yusho and propelled him
back into potential consideration for his own tsuna and gohei.
(Photo:
Ken Coller – SUMO NOW! |
If
ozeki #3-East KAIO could have posted this performance two months ago in
Tokyo he would have been performing the yokozuna dohyo-iri this
tournament. Whatever had forced the Tomozuna heyagashira to withdraw from
the Natsu contest seemed to have been banished to its cage, as
demonstrated by his eight-win rensho to open the festivities.
It took an old nemesis, maegashira #1-West TAKANONAMI, to set him
back on his heels. But that
was just a temporary setback for the “Human Juicer”, as he won his
next five matches. The fifth
win in the string, and 13th of the tournament, was by uwatenage over
yokozuna-West MUSASHIMARU to clinch his second title of the year and third
overall. Only the lingering
questions about his Natsu withdrawal stand between him and yokozuna
promotion. Victory under the
Kokugikan roof in September will be the deciding factor:
twelve or more wins could do the trick.
It
had been a good start of the Third Millennium A.D. 2001 for yokozuna-East
TAKANOHANA. He’d rid
himself of his destructive chiropractor/Svengali, made peace with his
father/oyakata and brother, won the Hatsu title, watched a dangerous rival
of long standing call it quits, moved past Takamiyama in the record books,
and was poised to close in on Kitanoumi’s mark of 24 career yusho.
And then, in a single instant, his career is suddenly overshadowed
by the dark spectre that has cut short many a rikishi’s career:
serious knee injury. He
managed to tough his way into a playoff for the Natsu yusho, then used his
superior technical skills to best MUSASHIMARU.
But he was as conspicuously absent in the Natsu-Nagoya jungyo
period as he’d been visible during the Haru-Natsu break.
And sure enough, the official word came down: the younger of the Hanadas would be on Kosho Seido for the
2001 Nagoya Basho.
Nagoya
was special ground for MUSASHIMARU. Seven
years before he had not only won his first career yusho under the Taiikukan’s
roof, but he’d rolled a 15-0 against a Makunouchi division which at that
time was packed with Futagoyama power.
Now, with a yokozuna’s title resting upon his massive shoulders,
he reminded the crowds of that past accomplishment by winning his first
ten torikumi. Then he ran
headlong into komusubi-West WAKANOSATO, and found himself on the wrong
side of a sukuinage. He
defeated sekiwake-West KOTOMITSUKI to stay in the hunt, but was then
pushed out by the always-tough sekiwake-East TOCHIAZUMA.
He had to defeat KAIO on day 14 to have a chance in the yusho hunt,
and fell short. The resulting
12-3 record took jun-yusho honors. The
big Hawaiian’s day 8 win over maegashira #4-East TOSANOUMI was his 621st
top-division victory, moving him past former yokozuna Wajima into eighth
place on the all-time Makunouchi victories list (see elsewhere in this
newsletter).
Ozeki
#1-East CHIYOTAIKAI suffered a shonichi stumble at the hands of WAKANOSATO.
He rolled out nine straight victories to remain in the chase as the
basho’s fury built to a crescendo, but then fell to ozeki #2-East
MIYABIYAMA. Kokonoe’s top
man only managed to win two of the last four matches, losing to KAIO and
MUSASHIMARU for a well-earned 11-4. Meanwhile,
a new chapter was written in the soap opera known as “Tales of the
Musashigawa Ozeki”. #1-West
MUSOYAMA was coming off a passing-grade 9-6 performance at the Natsu basho.
He lost to TOCHIAZUMA for openers, then won his next seven before
being pulled down by maegashira #3-West TOKI.
He then batted .500 over the next six days:
the only thing his senshuraku victory over KAIO achieved was to
give him a 10-5 posting for this outing.
#2-East MIYABIYAMA started off miserably, losing five of his first
seven torikumi. Winning his
next four wasn’t enough to stanch the bleeding:
a senshuraku loss to TOCHIAZUMA landed him a 7-8 and yet another
kadoban. #2-West DEJIMA had
managed to toe-dance his way around previous kadoban more than once to
keep his status. But it had
to fail sometime - and that moment finally arrived, quickly and painfully.
He was 3-1 after 4 days; but on day 5 he not only lost to resurgent
maegashira #5-East KYOKUSHUZAN, but suffered an apparent injury to his
left knee when he went down. He
did not come out to fight on day 6 against maegashira #3-East TOCHINONADA,
and absented himself the remainder of the tournament.
The Aki banzuke will list him at sekiwake:
he must win 10 or more torikumi to regain ozeki rank and
privileges. Can he do it?
(This writer’s opinion: doubtful.)
The
scorecard for the lower sanyaku reads as follows:
two kachi, two make. TOCHIAZUMA
showed almost no sign of his previous injury woes.
He defeated MUSASHIMARU and lost only one of his bouts against
hiramaku, but was bested by both komusubi for a still-respectable 10-5 and
a share of the Gino-Sho (Technique Prize).
He appears well positioned to be considered for ozeki promotion
when either DEJIMA or MIYABIYAMA finally fall.
On the other side of the banzuke KOTOMITSUKI did not fare well at
all. He did not lose a lot of
consecutive bouts but didn’t win any consecutive bouts either, went make
on day 12 and finished 6-9 for another trip back to the maegashira ranks.
With his leg problems well in the past, WAKANOSATO has become a
dangerous obstacle as well as a possible future ozeki himself.
He was kachikoshi on day 9, and two days later he toppled
MUSASHIMARU. But then he went
into a freefall and lost his last four matches to
maegashira. He finished with
a 9-6, the Shukun-Sho (Outstanding Performance Prize) and a probable
sekiwake slot for the upcoming Aki Basho.
Now that he’s been in the top division a little while, it looks
as if komusubi-East ASASHORYU has been figured out just as his fellow
Mongolians have been. He lost his first three and did not defeat MUSASHIMARU or any
ozeki, yet managed to pull himself even going into senshuraku.
But TOSANOUMI was also 7-7 at that point, and the former sekiwake
appeared to want it more; ASASHORYU finished at 7-8 but has a slim chance
to keep drawing a sanyaku paycheck.
In
the high maegashira ranks (#1 to #5) only three men managed to scrape out
winning efforts. Top score
among the hiramaku was posted by #7-West TAMANOSHIMA with a 12-3 to share
the jun-yusho and take the Kanto-Sho (Fighting Spirit Prize).
#13-West TOKITSUUMI went 11-4 for a share of the Gino-Sho. 9-6 records were posted by #5‑West TAKANOWAKA, #10-West
KAIHO and #14-West OGINISHIKI. MUSASHIMARU
did not lose to any maegashira, so no kinboshi were handed out in this
basho.
North
American Sumo
Championships Results
Manny Yarbrough Returns,
Takes Openweight Crown
by “Tonkatsu” for SUMO SHIMPO
The
fifth North American Sumo Championships took place at the Long Beach PAL
Gymnasium on Sunday, August 5th, sponsored by the Long Beach PAL and the
Southern California Sumo Kyokai.
This competition was sanctioned both by the North American Sumo
Federation and the United States Sumo Federation, with USSF president
Yoshidada Yonezuka in overall supervision and veteran referee Ernie Hunt
officiating on the dohyo.
In
addition to the usual men's divisions, there were competitions for women,
masters, juniors and kids for the first time.
The latter two were a prerequisite for the use of the PAL facility.
For the second year in a row there were no competitors from Hawaii.
And for the first time, Canada was not represented.
In fact, it was an all-USA event (more will be said about why in
another article in this newsletter).
After
the singing of the national anthem by Marcus Barber of the SCSK, action
got under way with five boys from the Long Beach PAL.
The medalists were:
1.
Eric Hernandez, age 10.
2.
Carlos Gallegos, age 9.
3.
Vicente Medrano, age 9.
Next
up was the NASC women's competition premiere, with five women, two
heavyweights, one middleweight and two lightweights.
The primary competition was a women's open, with the top three
qualifying for the first USA women's team to the World Championships.
There was also to be best two out of three in the heavyweight and
lightweight divisions.
One of the heavyweights from Oceanside was not in the building when
it was time to start, so the open went on without her.
With four competitors, the format was round robin.
The results were:
1.
Jaclyn Feuerschwenger, middleweight (Judo Karate Center, New
Jersey), 3-0
2. Mashid Tarazizadeh, heavyweight (California Sumo Association/UCLA), 2-1
3.
Sharlene Serbin, lightweight (SCSK), 1-2
4.
Hasna Benjemena, lightweight (CSA/UCLA), 0-3
After
the open, Serbin defeated Benjemena a second time for the lightweight
title.
Tarazizadeh won the heavyweights by default.
(After the competition, it was discovered that Ms. Benjemena was
not a US citizen, and was therefore declared ineligible.)
Ms. Serbin thus became the first-ever member of the SCSK to qualify
for a place in the World Championships.
The
beauties were followed by the beasts – or the dinosaurs, to be more
precise.
Jim “Yukikaze” Lowerre and Harry “Tonkatsu” Dudrow, the
only competitors over 45 years old, faced off in a best-2-of-3 for the
first-ever North American Masters division championship.
The results were:
Match
1:
“Yukikaze” d. “Tonkatsu” by yorikiri.
Match 2:
“Tonkatsu” d. “Yukikaze” by yorikiri.
Rubber match:
“Tonkatsu” d. “Yukikaze” by sotogake.
The
last preliminary event was the junior heavyweights, two of whom would also
compete in the senior divisions.
The results were:
1.
Justin Crite, age 17 (SCSK/Oceanside)
2.
Jon Crite, age 17 (SCSK/Oceanside)
3.
Roland Pantus, age 14 (LBPAL)
The
action then moved to the prime attraction - the men’s weight division
competitions.
During the first four NASCs, the format for the tournament has
varied depending on who was running it.
In the first three, divisions were divided into small pools of two
to four people.
Each pool wrestled a round robin, with only the winner advancing.
The SCSK has never liked this system, because it often resulted in
competitors being eliminated from medal contention on the basis of a
single loss.
Last year’s tournament in New Jersey was a double elimination
except for the heavyweight division, which only had four competitors.
The SCSK has always held that the NASC should be as close as
possible to the World Championship format, which is single elimination
with repechage (consolation bracket) for the bronze medal.
Also, in the Worlds, the previous year’s semi-finalists are
entitled to be seeded so as to not meet until the semi-finals.
Additionally:
in the Worlds, due to the large number of competitors, only those
who lose to one of the two finalists get into the repechage.
But this year’s NASC was bracketed in such a way that any
competitor who lost in the primary bracket was placed in the repechage,
and thus had a chance to finish ‘on the podium’ if they could win all
their subsequent bouts.
Of
the New Jersey judoka who dominated the lightweight division in the first
four NASCs, only defending champion Gregory Donofrio made the trip west.
Of the other five competitors, only Trent Sabo of the SCSK’s
Oceanside group had NASC experience.
The top four finishers were:
1.
Gregory
Donofrio (JKC, NJ)
2.
Trent Sabo (SCSK/Oceanside)
3.
Jason Maron (CSA/UCLA)
4.
Fernando Mora (SCSK/LAPD)
Rene
Marti came in as the defending middleweight champion because Craig
Montgomery had not paid his USSF dues last year.
Six men stepped up to try and take the crown from him.
When it was done the top four were:
1.
Rene Marti (JKC, NJ)
2.
Mark Morales (SCSK/LAPD)
3.
Andrew Isaacson (CSA/UCLA)
4.
Nick Rodriguez (SCSK/Oceanside)
Five
heavyweights (most of whom were new to NASC competition) ranging from
260-pound Jon Crite to 475-pound Marcus Barber, answered the bell to
challenge defending champion James Perry.
But when the dust settled, the top four were:
1.
James Perry (Durham, NC)
2.
Jon Crite (SCSK/Oceanside)
3.
Marcus Barber (SCSK)
4.
David Knight (SCSK)
This
year marked the return of the Openweight competition - and of Manny
Yarbrough, who missed last year’s NASC and Worlds due to injury.
Fourteen brave sumotori from all three weight divisions stepped up
to pit themselves against Manny's 700+ pounds.
When the storm passed, the top four were:
1.
Manny Yarbrough (JKC, NJ)
2.
David Knight (SCSK)
3.
Troy Collins (SCSK/LAPD)
4.
Kelly Gneiting (SCSK/Genesee, ID)
Fact
One:
although Manny won the World openweight championship in 1995, this
was his first North American openweight championship.
Fact Two:
Manny weighed a mere 600 pounds when we first met him in 1993.
Since
the United States was the only country represented, there was no official
team championship.
Instead, an informal competition was held between the following
teams:
USA
East (G. Donofrio, R. Marti, J. Perry)
USA West (K. Gneiting, M. Barber, D. Knight)
LAPD (T. Collins, M. Morales, F. Mora)
Oceanside (T. Sabo, Jon Crite and Justin Crite)
Primary
match #1:
LAPD d. USA East
Primary match #2:
USA West d. Oceanside
Repechage (bronze medal):
USA East d. Oceanside
Championship match:
LAPD d. USA West
Detailed
results will be available in the near-future.
They will be supplied to the International Sumo Federation in
Europe to determine world rankings for the competitors.
When you
think about it, the terms “sumo wrestler” and “police officer”
conjure up two diametrically-opposite ideas.
On one side you have a big, beefy man in a mawashi and shorts; on
the other you see a trim, athletic person in a uniform with a badge. But at the recently-completed North American championships, a
team of LAPD officers – all of whom were accomplished freestyle
grapplers, none of whom weighed more than 230 pounds – came to compete,
and enjoyed surprising success.
All three
officers figured in the medal races in three of the four weight classes.
In the lightweight competition, Fernando Mora fought his way
through the repechage final but lost to CSA’s Jason Maron for the bronze
medal. In the middleweights,
Mark Morales reached the primary bracket finals against veteran sumotori
Rene Marti (himself a police officer in New Jersey) and finished with the
silver medal. And Troy
Collins (the biggest of the three at approximately 230 pounds) won the
bronze medal in the highly-competitive openweight division.
But it was in the team competition that the trio turned heads.
They did this by defeating the strong USA East team by a score of
2-1, then besting the bigger
USA West trio to win the gold medals.
As a result
of the team’s success, Officer Morales (who runs a PAL-type youth
wrestling program out of CSULA) will be working with the SCSK to put on
another California State championship later this year at a site to be
determined.
Junior
Division Yusho Winners
On
June 14th, United States Sumo Federation vice president and longtime Oahu Sumo
Kyokai leader John Jacques was badly injured in a car accident on a Hawaii
road.
John
was returning home from a tennis practice, when a car coming the other way on
the two-lane highway veered into his lane.
In spite of frantic evasive action that took his small pickup all the
way off the road and up an embankment, the other vehicle still managed to
smash into the driver’s side door.
John's left leg was ripped open from knee to ankle.
He says that he made the mistake of unfastening his seat belt, causing
him to fall out into the dirt and gravel.
A
paramedic helicopter arrived within fifteen minutes and airlifted him to a
hospital in Honolulu.
He spent fourteen days in the hospital and almost lost his left foot.
The biggest problem was infection from the dirt that got into the
wound.
After a week or so at home things were getting worse instead of better,
so he had to go back to the hospital and have most of the original work
redone.
He was still there as of this writing.
The
Southern California Sumo Kyokai dedicated the recently completed North
American Sumo Championships to John.
We wish him a swift recovery.
[back to
top] [back to
Sumo shimpo home]
Women’s
lightweights:
1.
Hasna Ben Jemia (Tunisia)
2.
Emeline Perrenot (France)
3.
May Chung (Hong Kong)
Women’s
middle/heavyweights:
1.
Jaclyn Feuerschwenger (USA)
2.
Mahshid Tarazi (USA)
Women’s
open:
1.
Jaclyn Feuerschwenger (USA)
2.
Emeline Perrenot (France)
3.
Mahshid Tarazi (USA)
Men’s
lightweights:
1.
Greg Donofrio (USA)
2.
Raul Ramirez (USA)
3.
Jason Maron (USA)
Men’s
middleweights:
1.
Yuko Mitsunaga (Japan)
2.
Tomohiko Yamaguchi (Japan)
3.
Zurab Nebieridze (Georgia)
Men’s
heavyweights:
1.
Kohei Sagami (Japan)
2.
Kelly Gneiting (USA)
Men’s
open:
1.
Yuko Mitsunaga (Japan)
2.
Kelly Gneiting (USA)
3.
Zurab Nebieridze (Georgia)
The
600-Win Club
(updated after Nagoya 2001)
Info from SUMO WORLD magazine
and 1998 VAN VAN ‘face book’
|
Rikishi (Top
Rank)
|
Makunouchi Wins
|
|
CHIYONOFUJI
(Y)
|
807
|
|
KITANOUMI
(Y)
|
804
|
|
TAIHO
(Y)
|
746
|
|
TAKANOHANA (Y)
|
685
|
|
TAKAMIYAMA
(S)
|
683
|
|
KONISHIKI
(O)
|
649
|
|
TERAO (S)
|
626
|
|
MUSASHIMARU (Y)
|
625
|
|
WAJIMA
(Y)
|
620
|
Rikishi in BOLDFACE
are active
SEKITORI
BIRTHDAYS for August and September
|
|
|
|
|
HARUNOYAMA
|
Matsugane
|
08/02/76
|
|
WAKANOSATO
|
Naruto
|
08/10/76
|
|
TAKANOHANA
|
Futagoyama
|
08/12/72
|
|
KOBO
|
Miyagino
|
08/18/73
|
|
DAISHI
|
Oshiogawa
|
08/23/68
|
|
SENSHUYAMA
|
Takasago
|
09/01/75
|
|
KUNIAZUMA
|
Tamanoi
|
09/04/75
|
|
KYOKUTENHO
|
Oshima
|
09/13/74
|
|
TAMANOSHIMA
|
Kataonami
|
09/15/77
|
|
HIGONOUMI
|
Mihogaseki
|
09/23/69
|
|
YOTSUKASA
|
Irumagawa
|
09/25/73
|
|
ASASHORYU
|
Wakamatsu
|
09/27/80
|
|
TAKATORIKI
|
Futagoyama
|
09/28/67
|
Juryo
Yusho Decided on 9-6 Record
Lowest
Title Mark in Modern Sumo History
by
“Yukikaze” for SUMO SHIMPO
Who
could possibly have predicted that a sekitori yusho could ever be won with
a 9-6 effort?
(This writer certainly wouldn’t.)
Yet that is exactly what happened in one of the most evenly-fought
Juryo division campaigns in modern sumo history.
At
the end of regulation on senshuraku, eight men (including four Makunouchi
veterans) had 9-6 records on the scoreboard.
They were:
#2‑West TAKATORIKI, #3-East HAMANISHIKI, #3‑West TERAO,
#6-East SENTORYU, #10-East OIKARI, #12-West BUYUZAN, #13-East TAMARIKIDO
and #13-West WAKATOBA.
The resulting playoff took more than thirty minutes to resolve.
When the dust finally cleared BUYUZAN was the yusho winner.
A
stablemate of MUSASHIMARU and the “College of Sumo Knowledge”, BUYUZAN
entered the sumo world in March 1997 and reached the sekitori ranks for
the first time at last year’s Natsu Basho.
I
was going to write a long editorial on this subject, but let me just give you
the short, to-the-point version.
The
reason there were no Hawaiians for the second time, and the reason Canada
wasn't represented for the first time, was because the fools who staged the
USA Open in direct competition with the NASC thought it was more important to
have former ozeki KONISHIKI appear at their media event than to have the best
amateur wrestlers in North America present
We
argued against this obscene waste of money, but to no avail.
They would have their media circus.
They made their big splash, and like all big splashes, when the ripples
subside, no one will remember it ever happened.
To
Wayne, Kena, Jacob, Roger, Elmer and many others I could name, I can only say:
the weekend’s sumo was poorer for your absence.
If you want to know who to thank, send your regards to:
Andrew
Freund, President, California Sumo Association
E-mail:
afreund@ucla.edu
or
Takashi Imai, Deputy Director, The Japan Foundation
E-mail:
imai@jflac.org
Gaijin
Rikishi Data and Results as of Nagoya 2001
Data
from Moti Dichne’s Sumo Homepage (www.dichne.com)
|
-
|
Shikona
|
Origin
|
Heya
|
Highest
|
July Rank
|
July Record
| | 
