Musashimaru
stays on track,
rivals skid at
summer sumo

TOKYO -- Ozeki Musashimaru remained unbeaten with an easy win Tuesday, while his path to yokozuna promotion became a little clearer as Futagoyama stablemates Wakanohana and Takanonami both slipped up on the third day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.

Musashimaru, who captured his fourth Emperor's Cup at the spring tourney in March, showed no signs of pressure in his bout with Tochiazuma, 1-2, smothering the komusubi at the charge and bulldozing him out to improve to a perfect 3-0.

In the final bout of the day at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, yokozuna Wakanohana - still feeling the effects of a thigh injury he picked up in Osaka - froze as top maegashira Tosanoumi came in hard at the face-off and blasted him out to leave both wrestlers at 2-1.

Wakanohana tried to pull out one of his trademark throws at the edge, but Tosanoumi was wise to the maneuver and quickly cut off his opponent's ring space to secure the win.

Ozeki Takanonami fell to his first defeat of the 15-day tournament by letting sekiwake Dejima dictate from the start of their bout as both men left the ring with an identical 2-1 record.

Dejima, who dropped out-of-shape yokozuna Akebono on Monday, surprised the much taller Takanonami with his speed and kept up his forward momentum for an upset win which completed a great day at the office for his Musashigawa stablemate Musashimaru.

Akebono, meanwhile, rebounded from back-to-back losses with an untidy win over top-ranked maegashira Kotonowaka, 0-3, who has only managed two wins in 24 meetings with the Hawaiian-born yokozuna.

Third-ranked maegashira Kotonishiki kept pace with Musashimaru by bundling out sekiwake Kaio, 2-1, in a lively scrap to boost his record to 3-0, while rank-and-filers Toki and Ganyu also posted their third wins.

Sekiwake Akinoshima improved to 2-1 by driving out second-ranked Tochinonada, 0-3, but his Futagoyama stablemate Takatoriki only lasted a matter of seconds as he was bumped out by No. 2 maegashira Miyabiyama, leaving both men at 1-2.

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Results in Scoreboard

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