Bulgarian Kotooshu wrangled Tamanoshima to the dirt yesterday to maintain his undefeated lead in the Autumn Grand Sumo, while defending champion Asashoryu overpowered Kotomitsuki to stay one win behind.
Tamanoshima jumped to a quick start, pushing sekiwake Kotooshu to the straw ridge. But Kotooshu countered with a one-handed arm wrap and twisted his opponent out of the ring. Kotooshu improved his perfect record to 10-0, while No. 8 maegashira Tamanoshima fell to 6-4.
Kotooshu is eyeing his first championship after finishing second in the summer tourney with a loss to Asashoryu in a climactic final bout. Asashoryu is now gunning for his sixth straight Emperor's Cup and 14th overall.
PHOTO: AP, KYODO NEWS
In yesterday's closing contest, the Mongolian grand champion jumped on the offensive against Kotomitsuki, who was unable to mount any challenge against the yokozuna's powerful arm thrusts. Asashoryu advanced to 9-1, while his komusubi opponent dropped to 6-4. Kisenosato, a lowly No. 16 maegashira, also stayed one off the pace at 9-1 after grabbing the belt of Mongolian grappler Ama and quickly bulldozing him out of the ring. Ama dropped to 6-4.
Ozeki Tochiazuma made fast work of Kyokutenho to improve to 8-2. Kyokutenho racked up his fourth loss against six wins.
Fellow ozeki Chiyotaikai, 7-3, also came out on top, pulling rival Dejima to the dirt with a slap to the neck. Dejima fell to 3-7.
In top-ranked maegashira action, Georgia-born Kokkai fought through a barrage of arm thrusts to push out Miyabiyama. Kokkai improved to 2-8, while his No. 1 maegashira opponent fell to 3-7.
Mongolian Hakuho gave komusubi Futeno a hefty belt throw to scored his seventh win against three losses. Futeno fell to 2-8.
In other bouts further down the ranks, Russian-born Hakurozan jumped off the blocks in a false start against Shimotori, but quickly spun him around on the restart and pushed him out with a series of arm thrusts to the chest. The No. 12 maegashira Hakurozan improved to 5-5.
Russian compatriot Roho also bettered his record to 6-4 after pushing Kasugao to the edge and dodging a counterattack to throw the lower-ranked South Korean maegashira off balance. Kasugao fell to 6-4.
Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5. Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors. The Taiwanese
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
West Ham United’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday left Tottenham Hotspur realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for English Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea today, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal-difference over West Ham. “Overall bad performance. Too many things [went wrong], I think we gifted them the goals,” West Ham head caoch Nuno Espirito Santo
Jannik Sinner has his eyes on a first Roland Garros title after winning the Italian Open on Sunday to claim a record-extending sixth consecutive Masters 1000 tournament victory. World No. 1 Sinner beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to complete the “Golden Masters” by winning all of the ATP’s top-ranked events, in the process becoming the first Italian men’s champion in Rome since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago. Only Novak Djokovic had previously won all nine Masters 1000 events before Sunday, but there was little doubt about Sinner triumphing over the past 10 days. Sinner heads to Roland Garros, which starts at the weekend,
RSS