Grand champion Asashoryu brushed off a challenge from Aminishiki yesterday to maintain his perfect record after the third day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
Asashoryu, the only grand champion or yokozuna now competing in sumo -- Japan's national sport -- was calm when Aminishiki tried to sidestep at the faceoff in the day's final bout at Osaka Municipal Gymnasium.
The Mongolian grappler quickly grabbed Aminishiki's right arm, causing his opponent to lose his balance and forcing him over the ring's edge to improve to 3-0 while giving the third-ranked maegashira his second loss against one win.
PHOTO: AP
Ozeki Chiyotaikai downed Iwakiyama to improve to 3-0 at the 15-day tourney. Iwakiyama dropped to 1-2.
In other major bouts, ozeki Kaio picked up his second win against one loss by bulldozing Miyabiyama out in a matter of seconds, handing the komusubi wrestler his second loss against one win.
Ozeki Tochiazuma bounced back from a loss over Aminishiki on the second-day bout, when he charged low before grabbing the belt of second-ranked maegashira Hokutoriki and flipping him out over the raised straw ridge.
Tochiazuma, who won the New Year tournament held in Tokyo in January, is gunning to become the first Japanese yokozuna since Takanohana retired in 2003 and will need at least 12 wins here to be considered for promotion.
Kotooshu of Bulgaria also bounced back from a second-day loss over Miyabiyama when he threw down fourth-ranked maegashira, Futeno, near the ring's edge to pick up his second win against one loss. Futeno dropped to 1-2.
Earlier, sekiwake Hakuho quickly took hold of Russian Roho's belt with a left-hand grip soon after the faceoff, forcing him back and swatting down the komusubi grappler.
Hakuho of Mongolia, who is hoping for promotion to sumo's second-top rank of ozeki, improved to 3-1 while Roho fell to 0-3.
Hakuho would need at least 12 wins to move up a rank.
Sekiwake Kotomitsuki improved to 2-1 when he twisted down top-ranked Kokkai near the center of the ring, handing the wrestler from the former Soviet republic of Georgia his second loss.
On Monday, Tochiazuma was upset by a lower-ranked Aminishiki.
Tochiazuma, who won the New Year tournament in January, initially appeared to easily push Aminishiki backward but the No. 3 maegashira stood firm at the edge of the ring before twisting him down at the Osaka Municipal Gymnasium.
In the day's finale, Asashoryu posted his second win against no losses when he forced his Mongolian compatriot Ama out. No. 2 maegashira Ama fell to 1-1.
Kotooshu was handed his first defeat of the 15-day tourney by Miyabiyama, who improved to 1-1.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier