[sumo] [Spoiler}New banzuke

[Harold E. Shaver]

Kotomitsuki?  Ordinarily I would say "no way"
but with Asashoryu out of the way and
Chiyotaikai gone and Kaio fading fast, I have
to say that Mickey could just be the one.
After all his former shisho, the late
Sadogatake (moto-Kotozakura), was a very late
bloomer also.  He broke out from a crowd of
over-the-hill, mediocre Ozekis late in the
reign of Kitanofuji and took up the slack
winning two tourneys and becoming Yokozuna
when in his thirties.

The big difference there was that Kitanofuji
was in the doldrums of his career and was
desperately hanging on as the only Yokozuna
waiting for another to take his place while
Hakuho is in his prime and has a lot of
bashos (barring catastrophic injury) and is
not likely to lose two in a row for sometime
to come.

As it stands now there are no other Japanese
candidates who spring to mind as immediate
successors to Asashoryu and even among the
gaijin there are few who look like they might
be able to string together two consecutive
Yushos.  Harumafuji has potential as does
Kotooshu and Baruto but they all need
considerable development in order to knock
off the Yokozuna twice in a row for the
Yusho.  Goeido, Kisenosato and Tochiozan all
have good potential as well but they are at
least a couple of years away from
Ozeki/Yokozuna potential.

I'm afraid Hakuho is going to find himself in
Asashoryu's unenviable position as lone
Yokozuna for at least another year or maybe
two.  IMHO, of course.

Hal "Chisaiyama" Shaver
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sumo-bounces at webtrek.com 
> [mailto:sumo-bounces at webtrek.com] On Behalf
Of Greg Jobber
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 2:03 PM
> To: Sumo Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [sumo] [Spoiler}New banzuke
> 
> Wow, suddenly it looks so bare there at the
Y rank. Who'll 
> step up to keep
> Hakuho company? Is this Kotomitsuki's big
year?
>