[sumo] [spoiler] Rikishi Talk Basho 4 Day 08

[Barbara]

Rikishi Talk Nagoya Day 08 (Jonosuke)

  Toyohibiki (5-3) over Kyokutenho by oshitaosho, 4.5 seconds
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(Not only well satisfied with his sumo but also saving a good chunk of 
money by being superstitious)
"Since I started winning. I have not gone out (in evenings) from the 
heya at all..."

Kokkai (3-5) over Tochinoshin by yorikiri, 36 seconds
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(Beating his country man Tochinoshin by showing he is still the senior 
man from Georgia Helped Tochinoshin adjust to the sumo life initially by 
becoming his interpreter and a training partner)
"Obviously it isn't easy to face him but on the other hand this one got 
me psyched me up as well. He had good power and strong lower half so he 
is really hard to move."

Tochinoshin (5-3) losing to Kokkai
--------------------------------
"It was a pretty weird experience. But in a way I was happy as I felt I 
finally arrived up here."

Tamakasuga (0-8) losing to Kakuryu by tsukidashi, 4.2 seconds
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(The long losing streak continues with no end in sight but figuring no 
point in getting down on himself)
"I have no worry nor uncertainty. It's just I know I have not yet 
reached the sumo goal I have been aiming for."

Miyagiyama (6-2) over Takamisakari by oshidashi, 5.7 seconds
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(Beating Takamisakari and picking up all that Kensho envelopes that come 
with him)
"It was my best chance of earning the pocket money. Right here was a 
huge event for me."

Aminishiki (3-5) losing to Kaio by yorikiri, 23.5 seconds
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(Losing after hard struggles)
"I shook him around so much. I can't believe it. I guess it was a matter 
of the old winning over the young. But I must admit he was moving better."

Kotoshogiku (4-4) over Wakanoho by yorikiri, 5.6 seconds
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(Suffering from rather painful left knee injury himself but after seeing 
his senior at the heya Kotokasuga working out after fracturing bones in 
chest and lower back and prepare to re-enter the basho, got himself 
extra motivated to coming back strong)
"I simply could not believe my eyes when I saw him doing training 
sessions today. Then I heard he was coming back, that is truly amazing. 
When you see Kasuga-zeki coming back after breaking bones like that, and 
I looked at what I have, it's so minuscule, it's nothing."

Ama (7-1) over Kisenosato by yorikiri, 6.0 seconds
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(Getting rather agitated after Kisenosato's elbow hit his chin but put 
the energy in pulling Kisenosato in powerfully with mawashi and 
preserving one loss record)
"I cannot entirely pleased with myself at the mid-turn because I dropped 
one bout. But I can tell you I am really looking forward to facing the 
yokozuna."

Kisenosato (2-6) losing to Ama
----------------------------
"I had a good tachiai but that was all. Everything else that followed 
was all bad."
(Huge expectations prior to the basho but suffering sixth loss already)
"Hmmm...what can I say? There is nothing else to do except I need to 
start all over again."

Naruto oyakata (former Yokozuna Takanosato), Kisenosato's shisho
------------------------------------------------------------
(Sensing Kisenosato losing the hungry spirit)
"I can tell you this. Frankly and clearly he won't be able to win if he 
continues with the sumo he is doing right now. He has a good height and 
weight. He can learn and study about his opponents on video anytime he 
wishes. He is blessed beyond his means. When one gets satisfied with his 
station, perhaps he will lose the will."
"For instance this basho he was worried about the Kotooshu bout as he 
got beaten by a henka last basho. But if you think about it, you should 
know that an ozeki aiming for yokozuna will not come out doing a henka 
two basho in a row. If you can't even figure out something as simple as 
that, I must say you are plainly hopeless."

Takanohana oyakata (who has been always high on Kisenosato's potentials 
and remains as one of his favorite rikishi)
-----------------------------------------------------------
(On Kisenosato)
"He appears to be not as vibrant now. When you are faced with trials and 
tribulations, it's no one else but yourself who must overcome them."

Kotomitsuki (7-1) over Wakanosato by hikiotoshi, 29.1 seconds
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(Despite putting himself in a grave disadvantage of hidari-yotsu but 
endured while receiving huge support again from locals fans)
"If it was my right half, I could have stayed in safely no problem but 
in that position I was really hopeless.I kept thinking to myself when he 
would start throwing me out. I was losing 99% back then."
(Desperately hanging on and even started squashing Wakanosato's face 
with his right hand)
"I had no doubt if I was in a losing streak, then I'd have given up long 
ago. But you know when you are getting this much cheers you really 
cannot display a horrible sumo either. When you think about it now 
calmly, I could laugh about it but it was a life and death struggle for 
me on the dohyo then."
"But you better believe this win is incredibly huge."

Hakuho (8-0) over Toyonoshima by yoritaoshi, 7.4 seconds
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"I am moving naturally, just the way I want to."
(No problem setting aside pesky Toyonoshima and asked about Zen-sho yusho)
"Well if you can excuse me saying so, it's natural that I have to aim 
for it, right."
(It's been reported he and his wife will have another child in August.)

Kumagatani oyakata, Heya oyakata
---------------------------------
(Seeing Hakuho looking calm at the heya and rather than going out in 
evening, staying in his heya watching the past yokozuna's bouts on video)
"Comparing to the last year when he just got promoted to yokozuna, I 
believe he has more self awareness of being a yokozuna."

Kitanoumi oyakata, chairman of the Kyokai
------------------------------------------
(Seeing Hakuho heads and shoulders above anyone else at the moment)
"Today it was more like I felt he set aside his opponent smoothly 
without any fuss rather than squashing down one tough enemy."


Record:

Ama, Kokkai - Career 300th win.


East Juryo 5 Kotokasuga(Keigo Yamada from Fukuoka), 30, of Sadogatake 
Beya will re-enter the Nagoya Basho from Day 9. Kotokasuga withdrew on 
Day 7 and was diagnosed with fractured bones in chest and lower back 
requiring six weeks of treatment. Kotokasuga will be scheduled to face 
Hoshihikari on Day 9.

"He was doing training sessions this morning. I agreed with his re-entry 
as he really wants to go back again," Sadogatake oyakata said.



The Kyokai held their regular Directors meeting today and discussed 
three major issues confronting them:

1. Respect to a request forwarded by Ministry of Education to include an 
external director to the board after the death of Tokitsukaze Beya 
rikishi, the directors decided to create a new position of "External 
Auditor" to be occupied by a person without any Ozumo background. The 
directors rejected a motion to have a director without any Ozumo 
experience at this time. The subtle (or significant) difference is that 
a director will have a voting privilege at the board meetings while the 
auditor will not.

Kokonoe oyakata clearly stated that they have no intention of having a 
director without any sumo experience at this point. "We have been 
receiving a variety of advice from them. In the future we'd like to move 
to the direction by introducing an external director. We believe it will 
not be too long that will be realized," Kitanoumi oyakata, the chairman, 
stated. "We are currently in assessing the right individual for the 
position(to be selected at the directors meeting after the Aki Basho)."

2. Regarding Mongolina Jungyo to be held in August. The Kyokai has 
decided to proceed with the schedule for now and in early August they 
will be dispatching a team to assess the situation and will make the 
final decision based on their findings. According to Oshima oyakata, 
Director of Jungyo Group, depending on the circumstance it could still 
easily be postponed to a later date. "We really considered this matter 
seriously and the decision has not been taken lightly. Should something 
untoward happen from now to the event dates, we are still prepared to 
postpone it any time," Oshima oyakata stated.

3. The Kyokai was advised by the Ministry of Education to open up 
biddings for the Kokugikan's renovation projects to make the process 
more transparent. The Kyokai was discovered to be privately soliciting 
from a few construction firms for the Kokugikan renovation projects. 
"We'd like to follow what other corporations are doing in this case so 
we will be conducting open bids in due course," Kokonoe oyakata, Diretor 
of Public Relations, said. "This is something we have been practicing 
for so long but we intend to reform the process to be as open as 
possible now."


Another agenda at the meeting was if they should initiate a doping test 
during this Aki Basho in September but they decided not to follow 
through with it during the basho. It appears that they will be 
conducting it between basho rather than during one.

"We face all sorts of logistical problems during a basho so I suspect 
the preparation will take much longer than we anticipated," Isenoumi 
oyakata, the director of Kyokai's anti-doping committee said. "I also 
like to point out that we are doing this for benefit of rikishi. We are 
concerned about their health and that is our sole objective on this. So 
for that reason we will not be publicly disclosing the results and we 
are using the finding for guidance only."

The oyakata is also investigating various methods of doping test based 
on the world standards. "This is a really difficult issue. We need to 
re-consider further on the world standards whether we follow WADA or 
not, " the oyakata added while admitting it would more likely be 
initiated some time in next year, not sooner.

Isenoumi oyakata also indicated that the final report on the death of 
Tokitsukaze Beya rikishi will not be submitted at the moment as they 
wish to reconsider further and will be forwarded to the Ministry once it 
is completed and discussed at the directors meeting.


The Kyokai announced on July 20 that Makuuchi rank gyoji Masanao Kimura, 
54, of Asahiyama Beya will be promoted to Sanyaku ranke as of this Aki 
Basho.