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I hope Takayasu can pull himself back together, today his face looked an awful lot like Kyushu 2018, when he looked close to tears after losing to Mitakeumi and thereby the chance at a playoff against Takakeisho whom he had beaten the day before. 

Kotonowaka staying in the race is a big surprise. Wakatakakage seems to have the momentum and is the best of the three in head to head matchups (6-2 against Takayasu, 4-0 against Kotonowaka), he beat both already this Basho. 

Takayasu v Kotonowaka is at 2-1 with an additional fusenpai for the former Ozeki, so I would consider Wakatakakage the favourite in the finishing stretch. Wakatakakage is - however - facing Shodai in the final tournament match, and therefore is the only one of the 3 contenders who will be below .500 against his opponent. Both Takayasu vs Abi (4-2) and Kotonowaka (vs Hoshoryu 3-2)have slight edges against there respective opponents, but said opponents are both at 7-7 and therefore highly motivated. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

It stays weird, although with Terunofuji slowly but surely finding a groove there is a decent enough shot he will get this done. The Ozeki have been disappointing, WKTKKG (I always thought I and a friend of mine were the only people in the world to go with all caps consonants for shikonas @John E. Dynamite) looks to have a bit of a post Yusho hangover. 

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At this point in time (10 matches in), this tournament is just weird.

Terunofuji has three losses, with the supposedly tough part of his schedule yet having to kick in. Yet he still has a very strong chance at winning the whole thing. He seems very vulnerable to the pusher/thruster - style wrestlers so far and rarely shows the dominance that made him the top-ranked Rikishi. 

Every Ozeki is underperforming and practically out of contention. Shodai is one loss away from another kadoban gauntlet in July. Mitakeumi and Takakeisho are at .500 right now, after mostly facing the low rankers. 

Leaders are Takanosho (who has beaten two Ozeki and Terunofuji so far) and Ichiyamamoto, who are 8-2.

Five Rikishi follow the leaders with 7-3 scores: Terunofuji, Kiribayama, Ura, Aoiyama and Sadanoumi. 

There is a real possibility of a multi men play off. And 11-4 might be enough to win a place in it. 

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The match with Takakeisho is a perfect example of why I love Ura. Those moves were crazy. Takanosho still holding out at the top, but Terunofuji seems to be at the level you expect him to be... It's gonna be a fun final stretch. 

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On 5/8/2022 at 11:01 AM, John E. Dynamite said:

A pathetic opening day. Maybe bet the field on this one. At least WKTKKG looks great.

Can you bet on Sumo? I haven't found a way to do it online from New Jersey. 

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Terunofuji winning out put the Sumo world back into balance somewhat. Takakeisho was able to prevent kadoban, unlike his two peers. 

Wakatakakage handled the hatsu Yusho hangover decent enough with a 9-6 score. Daeisho will be back at Sekiwake after an 11-4 performance. 

Ura had a good tournament, but unfortunately it ended in injury. Hopefully nothing serious. 

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It's funny, Teru was sitting on 3 losses and if he'd picked up the fourth against Tobizaru 100% he just pulls out. Instead he smokes everyone else and wins.

The Ozekis were all dreadful. I like Shodai but I can't begin to tell you what the fuck his sumo is supposed to be right now. Takakeisho hasn't even been close to the same since that scary neck/nerve injury where he went limp against Ichinojo, and I honestly worry he's on the fast track to being physically shot. I can't even begin to concieve of how some people are still convincing themselves he's the next Yokozuna. And Mitakeumi had a bump where he looked more like the Mitakeumi of old again.

I was happy to see Takanosho give it a good run, he doesn't seem to get any respect from sponsors at all and he deserves better considering how consistent he is.

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  • 1 month later...

Two months flew by and Grand Sumo will return to Nagoya, first tournament allowed to be held at full capacity since the Covid outbreak.

Speaking of Covid, Taganoura beta, with top wrestler Takayasu are out of the Basho. This is about the biggest story unfolding leading up to the competition. 

Sandanme will see the return of fallen hero Asanoyama. Before some bad choices outside the dohyo, he was a very strong Ozeki. A six Basho suspension took him way down the banzuke. He is still pretty young and it will be interesting to see if he can get to former heights, he should not have trouble in what is basically the fourth division. 

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I don't think it will stop the tournament, but I've been wrong in the past. The only real reason I can see is if a tighter security protocol gets imposed on a way shorter notice. I mean, they did hold an empty arena Basho while infection rates were soaring. And there waa Basho 3 months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945... 

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No-one has been betting on baseball or fixing matches and they feel like they have a handle on the pandemic enough to fill the place so I would have guessed (with no other information on the matter,) that the tournament will go ahead.

Asanoyama won't drop a match until he gets to Juryo. Wakatakakage could still make Ozeki with 12+ wins, so that could be interesting although if Terunofuji fights all fifteen days, he's going to be favourite.

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Terunofuji is not the same way as in head&shoulders above everyone else like Hakuho was, but if he stays his usual banged up self (as in no injury aggravation), he will always win at least 12 matches. At the moment, this will mean a great shot at winning. The rest is inconsistant at best, I'd put Wakatakakage as most likely rival, probably jinxing him in the process. 

Edited by ReiseReise
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Terunofuji is physically imposing in a way that Hakuho never was, an absolute bulldozer; but Hakuho was an absolute wizard. He could just decide that actually he was not going to lose and the universe would just arrange itself for him. A healthy Hakuho, I would could back for at least 14 wins; Terunofuji, I'd agree with your twelve.

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This was at the World Games, which is going on right now in Birmingham, Alabama. The games include a sumo competition.

Gold medal match is Egypt against Ukraine. Egypt guy wins, but then proceeds to do a backflip to celebrate and is disqualified.

Coach goes balistic, bringing out the cops (!) Judges decide to have a rematch right then and there, and Egypt guy wins again.

 

Egypt coach is a former sumo pro named Osuna-arashi, who famously fought Bob Sapp in a Rizin MMA fight a few years back.

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Spoiler

To go back to what we were saying about Terunofuji vs. Hakuho, there is no way on earth that Hakuho would waste any time with that Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner moment at the end of Day One. Yet, they're both looking over the cliff and ABI goes "MEEP MEEP" and nudges him off.

What happened to Endo? I thought he was going to be a consistent Sanyaku guy, but last year was not kind to him. M4 seems about his level, which is a drag. I've got a soft spot for that shade of purple. Anyway, maybe the fight back starts today. Good day for that deep shade of purple. Does Ura wear a shade that's close enough to purple to be one of My Guys? Hmm.

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Well, ten days past. Mitakeumi out due to Covid, if there ever is a lucky (?) infection, it might be this one. Also, Shodai has to be joking at this point, turning 1-4 looking like a chump into 6-4 looking like an... Ozeki?! Takakeisho is 7-3.

Terunofuji and tons of other people (OK, 3) are on 8-2 and in the lead. 

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On 7/10/2022 at 5:42 PM, colonial said:

 

Egypt coach is a former sumo pro named Osuna-arashi, who famously fought Bob Sapp in a Rizin MMA fight a few years back.

He also got thrown out of Sumo after driving (not allowed in Sumo), lying to the Sumo association (not allowed in sumo), while not having a license (not allowed in general) and claiming his wife was driving (scumbag thing to do). 

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