Yet another late withdrawal by another sumo stable, this time Oitukaze stable, who found out so late that some of their lower ranked wrestlers had already wrestled before the remainder of the wrestlers pulled out. Looking at the top rank matches, it seems that there will five consecutive matches that will be won by forfeit.
But there was some good news in sumo today. Back in 2021:
Originally Posted by
hailstorm
Speaking of sumo, in the What The Stronger-Word-Than-Hell Was He Thinking? category, Ozeki Asanoyama has pulled out of the remainder of the current basho after finally admitting to twice visiting a kyabakura (hostess bar) during the latest state of emergency, the latter being after Day 2 of the tournament. He initially denied the allegations, but after being presented with additional evidence was forced to fess up.
I am a fan of Asanoyama, but the Sumo Kyokai needs to throw the book at him. Last year former Komusubi Abi committed the same offense. Those trips were only in violation of Kyokai guidelines at the time, but it was still called "unpardonable", and he was ultimately given a three basho suspension and forced to move back into his heya (dude has a wife and a kid). To go out and do the same thing after that precedent has been set during a national emergency proves that Asanoyama has the brains of a prime minister.
As a result of this, Asanoyama was given a one year suspension from sumo, during which time he racked up six consecutive zero win tournaments, falling from the ozeki rank to the third lowest division of Sandanme.
This tournament was his return to sumo, and today he proceeded to win the championship of the Sandanme division. This will assure his promotion to the Makushita rank, giving him a chance to return to the paid ranks of sumo by the end of the year.