[sumo] No New Recruits

[Emmett Wayne]

The following is from Japan Today
(http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/411071):

SPORT
Sumo association gets no new applicants
Monday, July 2, 2007 at 07:00 EDT

NAGOYA - Sumo's status as Japan's national sport has been jeopardized
further as no one applied for the tests for new recruits for the first time
ever, sumo officials said Sunday. The Japan Sumo Association was forced to
cancel the tests scheduled for Monday after receiving no applications from
would-be professionals prior to the Sunday's deadline, a week before the
start of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. 

According to the JSA, it was the first time in sumo history that the
association had no applicants for such tests, which are conducted prior to
each of the six tournaments held a year. The JSA has had recruiting problems
since the popularity of sumo began to decline in the late 1990s and the
number of applicants has not reached 100 a year the last eight years, while
foreign wrestlers have grown in numbers and steadily made their marks.

Emmett Wayne
Torideyama