Sumo: Preview of the upcoming May Tournament

I'll try to keep this brief and to the point to keep it readable.

Most notably, this is the first tournament in history in which there are 6 Ozeki-ranked wrestlers (the second highest rank behind Yokuzuna). What is more, each one of the current Ozeki are still fairly young and either in or approaching their competitive primes, and all can be considered contenders for eventual Yokozuna promotion, whether in the near future, or later as they develop more.

Then, we also have Mongolian Hakuho, the lone Yokuzuna, who at the tender age of 27 is already one of the most dominant Yokuzuna in history--having already won an astonishing 22 top-division championships in his 6-year career (currently tied for 5th all time), having twice won 86 bouts out of a total of 90 in a single year (doing so in 2009 and 2010--these performances being #1 on the all-time list in this category), and having once won 63 consecutive bouts--which is tied for the second-best all time.


A brief breakdown of the Ozeki follows.

First, we have Kotooshu. Originally from Bulgaria, this long time Ozeki is unusually tall at 6'8 and weighs in at around 340 pounds. He debuted in 2002, is 29 years old, and holds the distinction of having had the fastest progression to the top level (makuuchi division) of sumo, having done so in just 11 tournaments from his debut (he shares the #1 spot with Aran, a current wrestler from Russia). Debuting at Ozeki in Janurary 2006, he has held the rank ever since, having claimed one tournament victory in that time.


The next relative veteran Ozeki is Baruto, who is an Estonian wrestler. He recently challenged for Yokuzuna promotion with a January 2012 tournament victory, though he followed it up with a somewhat disappointing 10-5 performance to preclude his chances (the standard criteria for promotion from Ozeki to Yokozuna is back-to-back tournament wins). Nontheless, at only 27 years of age, he remains a strong contender for Yokozuna promotion. At 6'6, Baruto tends to come in at a right and ready 410 pounds.


The next Ozeki rounds out the vets. Harumafuji is his name, and he is originally from Mongolia. He is among the smaller wrestlers in the tournament, at 6'1 and 280 pounds, and so he relies much on agility and superior technique. He has chalked up 2 tournament victories over his sumo career, including most recently in the July 2011 tournament. At 28, time is still on his side and he is certainly a contender for potential promotion in the future.


Now, we get into the new Ozeki.

Japanese-born Kisenosato has made considerable waves recently, not the least through his burgeoning rivalry with Hakuho (it was in fact he who, while still an up-and-coming prospect, put an end to Hakuho's 62 bout unbeaten streak back in November 2010, thereby ending his hopes of breaking the record, which still stands at 69 straight. Hakuho would go on to win the tournament with a 14-1 record, Kisenosato having handed him the only loss). What is more, Kisenosato has proved able to beat Hakuho with consistency, over recent tournaments, having bested him in 4 of their last 6 meetings. He is considered by many sumo watchers as possibly the guy with the most potential if he can put it all together, based on his outstanding technique and tremendous physical abilities. He has continued to experience some degree of inconsistency though, commonly losing matches he should seemingly win. At just 25, he has time on his side. There is always the potential that this could be his break out tournament.


Another recent Ozeki promotee is Kotoshogiku. This 28 year old 5'10 380 pounder has a very straight forward, yet effective, style with which he approaches his bouts, often winning by way of push outs. He has proved able to win with consistency against the lower guys and to turn in good results, although he hasn't yet proved able to sufficiently match up against the very top guys in the division. Still, he is a tough outing for anyone and certainly one to keep an eye on.


Rounding out the lineup of Ozeki is Mongolian Kakuryu, who had a breakout performance in the previous tournament in March, thus earning his promotion to Ozeki. On the 15th and final day of the March tournament, the tournament was his to win, given his leading record of 13 wins against 1 loss. The number 2 placed guy at the time was Yokozuna Hakuho at 12 wins and 2 losses, and Kakuryu had already faced all of his toughest opposition, having bested Hakuho previously, as well as every Ozeki, with the exception of Kisenosato, who had handed Kakuryu his sole defeat to that point (incidentally, Hakuho's defeat in addition to that against Kakuryu had also come at the hands of Kisenosato). It was not to be however, as lower ranked Goeido handed Kakuryu defeat in his final bout on the tournament. Hakuho would go on to defeat Baruto, forcing a playoff with Kakuryu, which Hakuho won, thus securing the tournament victory. Kakuryu's stoundout performance would nevertheless secure his promotion to Ozeki for the May tournament.
(I'LL POST KAKURYU'S FULL RUN AGAINST THE TOP GUYS, IT'S WORTH WATCHING)






So going into the May tournament, we have all the potential for a tremendous event on our hands. With 6 Ozeki plus the sole Yokozuna Hakuho, we can expect nothing but an inordinate amount of drama going down the stretch of the 15 day tournament. Every one of the Ozeki are hungry for Yokuzuna promotion, whereas Hakuho is assuredly determined to reassert his dominance of the sport in recent years, yet again. In Baruto and Harumafuji, we have two guys who have been on the cusp recently, but couldn't quite put it together in the follow up tournament. We then have Kisenosato, eager to prove he is worthy of the laudable expectations being bestowed on him, and Kotoshogiku seeking to once and for all prove that he deserves to be mentioned alongside the names of the very top in the division. Additionally, we have Kakuryu, who will likely have a target on his back following his unprecedented performance in March, seeking to prove that the last performance was not a fluke, and that he belongs in the top rankings, and more importantly that he can indeed perform as such consistently.

Finally, we have guys like Goeido--who had a career best performance in his own right in the last tournament, having gone an outstanding 12-3 on the event, while as mentioned playing spoiler against Kakuryu on day 15--who has thusly earned promotion to the 3rd highest rank of Sekiwake following his own breakout performance.


Great time to be a sumo fan.

The tournament runs from May 6 to May 20.

Upper division bouts run from approximately 4-6pm Japan time, with the top guys starting a little while after 5 oclock. 4pm Japan time is 12am PST and 3am EST.

Every match (starting at 8:30am Japan time, from the lowest division) is available via live stream at the official website.
http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/index.html

Also, this is a good youtube channel for catching all of the matches after the day's events. The guy that owned the page use to upload every match as soon as they happened, however he has apparently stepped aside and handed the channel over, and he says the new owner may upload hour long vids instead (but still a great source). Also a great place to catch all of the former tournament matches (for individual's matches, just input the name into the search bar).
https://www.youtube.com/user/araibira

Finally, one more story. A recent guy who is debuting at Juryo (which is one step below the top makuuchi league) is Jokoryu (formerly Sakumayama). At 23 years old, he recently burst onto the sumo scene by registering 27 straight victories without a single defeat from the time of his debut. His current record is 32-3, and he has done the unprecedented in reaching the Juryo rank in only his 7th tournament. It will be extremely interesting to see how he fairs at Juryo in the coming tournament. A strong performance could have him fighting in the makuuchi ranks very soon, potentially.

I tried to add photos, but they didn't show up for some reason. I'll edit later and add video of recent impressive wins instead.

No nonsense though, I'm by far not the only one expecting this to potentially be an extremely memorable tournament.

I have my ticket for day 14. The plan was to go to day 15 but we bought them too late, but 14 should be amazing too. I may show up at the box office in the early morning on day 15 for the willcall if the situation is crazy enough.

Awesome man! So you will be attending the tournament, sounds cool as f#ck. I´ll watch it on youtube, will they have a free stream?

Yeah, all the matches are streamed free at the website I posted. It's a Windows Media stream. It goes live at 8:30am Japan time and stays live until about 6pm when the day ends.

nodogoshi wrote:Yeah, all the matches are streamed free at the website I posted. It's a Windows Media stream. It goes live at 8:30am Japan time and stays live until about 6pm when the day ends.

Nice!

Johan Lofgren wrote:Awesome man! So you will be attending the tournament, sounds cool as f#ck. I´ll watch it on youtube, will they have a free stream?

It'll be the second tournament I've attended.

The tickets are about $43 for the cheapest. Apparently 7/11 is now selling tickets for $8 though (I hadn't known, and they sold out really quickly). You can also show up on the day of the tournament and buy tickets for like $22, as I understand it they always reserve some for this kind of sale, so I may go on day 15 if it is a crazy enough tournament going into the last day (and if I can wake up early enough).

Update:
I included videos in the post.

nodogoshi wrote:Finally, one more story. A recent guy who is debuting at Juryo (which is one step below the top makuuchi league) is Jokoryu (formerly Sakumayama). At 23 years old, he recently burst onto the sumo scene by registering 27 straight victories without a single defeat from the time of his debut. His current record is 32-3, and he has done the unprecedented in reaching the Juryo rank in only his 7th tournament. It will be extremely interesting to see how he fairs at Juryo in the coming tournament. A strong performance could have him fighting in the makuuchi ranks very soon, potentially.

There are 30 of his matches available. It is the lower level, but well worth watching. Jokoryu is worthy of the top level though. This guy could be a Yokozuna soon enough though for all we know, he's a phenom and these videos include most of his historic run.

^Beast!

(New youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Maarike11/videos )

Things went mostly according to script today, with the exception of Hakuho who suffered a shocking defeat on the first day of the May tournament.

^ God damn it, not Hakuho.

DAMN. Hakuho what up.


This is a GREAT thread nodo!!

Among today's surprizes, Harumafuji was handed a very narrow defeat by Georgian wrestler Gagamaru.

Kakuryu also tasted defeat at the hands of the always tough up and coming wrestler Myogiryu.

Moreover, Kotooshu was defeated by the aforementioned up and comer Goeido.

Finally, Kisenosato and Hakuho both prove victorious in entertaining outings.