Grand champions Hakuho and Asashoryu of Mongolia dominated the sumo ring yesterday, defeating their challengers to remain undefeated and in the lead of the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
Defending title holder Hakuho beat rising star Kakuryu, a top maegashira, with a deft throw at ring's edge to make his record 3-0.
Altogether, 10 wrestlers made it through the third day without a loss.
PHOTO: AP
Asashoryu, trying to make a comeback after two forced absences for bad behavior and a last-day loss to Hakuho in January, overwhelmed komusubi Aminishiki, twisting him down and forcing him all the way off the ring.
Asashoryu, once seemingly unbeatable, is still stinging from the competition ban that kept him from fighting at the end of last year, and is having trouble matching the rise of compatriot Hakuho, who is perhaps equally talented and definitely better liked by the fans.
Chiyotaikai, who needs eight wins this tournament to keep his rank as ozeki, blasted out at the face-off, but lost his balance and fell to the ground in his bout against komusubi Kisenosato. Both wrestlers are 2-1.
Bulgarian ozeki Kotooshu bashed No. 2 maegashira Miyabiyama with a merciless series of thrusts and slaps, and earned his second win against one loss.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS