Grand champion Asashoryu overpowered undefeated top maegashira Toyonoshima on Wednesday to post his second straight win at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
Mongolian Asashoryu forced Toyonoshima to the edge and lifted him out over the straw ridge to improve to 2-2. Toyonoshima fell to 3-1.
Asashoryu, who is bidding for his 21st Emperor's Cup, lost his first two bouts of the tournament, but predictions that he is coming unglued may prove premature.
PHOTO: AFP
He showed no sign of panic against Toyonoshima and was never in danger during the day's final bout at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
In other major bouts, ozeki Tochiazuma remained tied for the lead at 4-0 with a solid win over sekiwake Kotomitsuki, who dropped to 3-1.
Tochiazuma shares the lead with lower-ranked No. 11 maegashira Kakuryu, who remained undefeated at 4-0 when he toppled winless No. 10 Kasuganishiki.
Ozeki Hakuho had his hands full with fellow Mongolian Ama.
After exchanging a series of slaps to the head with his opponent, Hakuho finally maneuvered Ama to the edge, where he needed several shoves to the upper body to send the determined komusubi out.
Hakuho improved to 3-1 while Ama fell to 1-3.
Ozeki Chiyotaikai used his trademark arm thrusts to dispatch top maegashira Kisenosato while improving to 3-1.
Kisenosato was handed his second loss.
Mongolian Kyokutenho, a No. 2 maegashira, spun Kotooshu around at the faceoff and muscled the Bulgarian ozeki out to improve to 1-3.
Kotooshu dropped to 2-2.
Sekiwake Kotoshogiku posted his first win of the tournament when he got both arms around Kaio and bulldozed the ozeki out to his third loss.
In a showdown of No. 3 maegashira, Miyabiyama, who defeated Asashoryu on Day 2, shoved out Kasugao to give both wrestlers a 2-2 record.
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