Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
How about a sumo thread?
Collapse
X
-
Enho has so far won eight times, by a diferent technique every time, and I'm wondering what the record is for different kimarite in a single tournament. He's tied for top spot with Ishiura and Chiyomaru in the juryo yusho race (sucks for Chiyomaru that Ishiura and Enho cannot fight each other because they are from the same heya). My man Nishigiki is clinging to Juryo status by his fingernails, still needs to win 3 of the last 4 to be sure of staying on the right side of the sekitori line.
Kakuryu has bowed to the inevitable and retired after missing 5 consecutive bashos.
Tochinoshin has looked really slow on the tachiai. He could well fall out of the top division this year.
Takayasu at 9-2 has a one-bout lead on Teru, Asano and Tobizaru. Additionally, Teru is two wins away from regaining his Ozeki rank which he lost three and a half years ago. My money is he wil get those two but not win the basho - I think Asanoyama might actually be the favourite here given Terunofuji's crap knees and occasional mental lapses and Takayasu's habit of choking in the stretch.
Comment
-
Day 14 is over. Takayasu has dropped his last two and now trails Terunofuji by one. The latter beat Asanoyama today, in one of the most titanic, heart-stopping yotsu battles you'll ever see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKwB...vnNyU&index=64. Ozeki rank now in the bag, yusho now depends, as it did in November, on the result of a last day match-up with Takakeisho and a possible 3-way playoff thereafter. (If Takakeisho beats Teru, they will both be 11-4; meanwhile the other two guys at 10-4, Takayasu and Aoiyama, are facing off against each other, meaning there will necessarily be three with eleven wins).
Comment
-
You have to figure more opponents are going to start moving sideways and in circles against him to take advantage of the weak knees eventually, kind of the way Tobizaru did to Kaisei today.
You may see Teru go easy in his first basho as Ozeki - just go for the 8 wins in order not to put too much strain on the knees rather than immediately try to go on a yokozuna run (cool though that would be). I am desperate to get to the November basho but I am getting worried that Japan's slow vaxx roll-out means they might not be open for tourism by then.
Comment
-
Terunofuji starting this basho where he left off - no knees but absolutely devastating anyway. barring injury, he has to be the favourite.
No fans for the first three days due to Tokyo emergency protocols, and as a result the sumo broadcasts are trying something different: moving crane shots! Not sure they will continue once the fans come back on Thursday, but it's fun to watch right now.
Comment
-
Terunofuji 10-0 they should just give him the Yokozuna rope already. Shodai and Asanaoyama being their usual inconsistent selves; the former, being kadoban, is flirting with demotion. Takakeisho in good form at 8-2, but absent an injury hard to see how Terunofuji loses this.
Chiyonokuni out injured on day 3 - have not heard about how serious it is, v. disappointing after he was finally back up in the upper maegashira.
Comment
-
TNF 12-1, Endo and Takakeisho at 10-3 and there is no goddamn way this one isn't over tomorrow.
Asaonyama broke COVID protocols, and lied about it. not only is he out of the tournament, the sumo federation seems to be seriously considering some Abi-like penalties, which means we're going to be down an Ozeki. (Abi, meanwhile, went 7-0 in his first basho since suspension and clinched the Makushita yusho today).
(technically, a three-basho suspension wouldn't be that bad for Asanoyama. he'd still be Ozeki going into next baso. He'd fall to Sekiwake in the second basho. Then down to about megashira 13 or so in the third. That means in the following basho, on his return, he would still be in juryo and therefore in the ranks of the paid sekitori. That might not be seen as punishment enough: one could imagine therefore a 5- or 6-basho suspension. Or they could retire him, which seems extreme, but this is sumo.)
Comment
-
And Ura wins the juryo yusho, which means he will be back for the first time in over 4 years (having gone through not one but two blown ACLs). Weird how neither of the most in-form rikishi has any knees to speak of. Wonder if the constant threat of retirement-by-even-the-slightest-knee-knack makes them more agile and better wrestlers.
Dream ending for Nagoya basho: Day 15: Hakuho v. Terunofuji for the yusho. Downside: I would not have a clue who to cheer for. Hakuho because you want him to go out on a win? Or Terunofuji because what a way to ascend to Yokzuna status?
Comment
-
Banzuke is out. Two new komusubis (Wakatakakage and Meisei). Some weirdness in the upper Maegashira ranks, with Tobizaru and Takanosho only dropping a single rank (to M2 and M3, respectively) despite 5-10 records. Ura up to the top division after a four year absence, Abi back to Juryo.
Asanoyama has been given a six-basho ban for his COVID adventures, which will leave him a bit lower than where Abi was after his suspension. He'll be gone from the top division for at least two years.
No word on Hakuho's participation. That's probably not a good sign.
Comment
-
Day 4 notes:
1) Tochinoshin 0-4. I think this might be his last basho in the top division.
2) Hoshoryuu - Former Yokozuna Asashoryu's nephew - fighting at his highest-ever rank of M5 - is looking increasingly effective.
3) Ichinojo is also looking remarkably good, for the moment at least (his performance often tails off in week 2). Basically, all the Mongolians are on fire right now.
4) Takayasu sat out the first two days with a bad back and now has stormed back with two wins and looked good. Takakeisho is kyujo with back problems.
5) Terunofuji is 4-0. So is Hakuho. Both of them pulled off amazing wins today, and the look on H's face after the win was priceless. Watch those two matches if you watch nothing else.
This is the good stuff. Makes such a difference when H is there.
Comment
-
Catching these live has been a little too late for me, especially with the top cats. There is a Twitch stream that has them, I should check and see if they keep the recordings around for watching the next morning.
Comment
Comment