[sumo] Movement on Tokitsukaze

[Jack Gartin]

Here's the latest AFP report of about an hour ago.

Also, one of the Japanese Sports papers - afternoon edition - are reporting
that Tokitsukaze has been arrested.

Who was dismissed in 1997, does anyone recall?  And what for?


Authority to sack sumo stable master over novice's death

1 hour ago

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's sumo authority plans to dismiss a stable master who
admitted beating a teenage wrestler with a beer bottle a day before he
suddenly died during practice, reports said Tuesday.

The Japan Sumo Association is set to hold a meeting on Friday to formalise
the decision to fire stable master Tokitsukaze, according to local media.

Dismissal "could not be helped," association chairman Kitanoumi said
Tuesday, Kyodo News reported. "We could not take a step that is more
lenient."

The suspicious death has dealt another blow to the image of Japan's national
sport, whose stables have been dogged by allegations that senior disciples
brutalise young entrants in the name of training.

Dismissal would be the severest possible penalty by the sumo authority,
preventing Tokitsukaze from ever returning to Japan's ancient sport.

In its more than 80 year history, the sumo association has only dismissed
one stable master before, in 1997 after he went missing, a spokeswoman said.

Tokitsukaze has admitted he hit Takashi Saito, 17, on the knee and head with
a beer bottle the day before his death, Kitanoumi said Monday, promising a
severe response to the death.

The stable elder has also admitted senior wrestlers assaulted the teenager,
with one of them striking him on the buttocks with a baseball bat, he said.

Police are reportedly seeking to press charges against the stable master and
the senior wrestlers.

Saito collapsed while practising with another wrestler in June in the
central city of Inuyama.

He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead from heart failure.

But after seeing the body, which reportedly had bruises, a deep cut in the
forehead and burns on the legs apparently from cigarettes, his father asked
for an autopsy.

The autopsy could not determine the exact cause but police have said it may
have been shock due to numerous wounds.

Saito's father told reporters last week that Tokitsukaze initially tried to
rush through the cremation of the body before the family saw it.