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Sumo
KYUSHU, Japan -- Yokozuna (grand champion) Takanohana is fit and ready to make a comeback to the raised ring at the upcoming Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament, his father and stable master, Futagoyama, said today. Takanohana ready to go
Takanohana, who has 20 Emperor's Cup victories but is winless since September 1998, was forced to sit out the autumn tourney after spraining his left elbow during the Nagoya meet in July.
"He told me that he is ready and I told him to give it a shot," Futagoyama said.
The 15-day Kyushu tourney gets under way Sunday.
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Decade’s best
bidding to make
century-ending
curtain call
FUKUOKA, Nov. 2 (Kyodo) -- Yokozuna Takanohana, without question, has been the top sumo wrestler of the 1990s, winning 20 Emperor's Cups over the decade while nearest challenger, fellow grand champion Akebono, has taken home only half that number.The once formidable grand champion, however, beset with personal problems and injuries in recent years, is making a comeback at the final tournament of the decade and of the century as wrestlers gear up for the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament.
Takanohana, 28, who has been practicing diligently after missing all or part of the last two tournaments with a sprained left elbow, has made clear that he will join the tournament getting under way Sunday at Fukuoka Kokusai Center.
But, the poster boy for the once-proud Futagoyama stable may be hard pushed to survive the 15-day ordeal in his bid to lift another trophy.
After he won his first tournament in January 1992, it was not long before it seemed that everyone was chasing after Takanohana for the Emperor's Cup as he rolled up 14 championships between 1994 and 1997.
A spate of injuries and a much-publicized falling out with his brother Wakanohana as well as stable master and father Futagoyama has left the would-be king of sumo a sad portrait of the wrestler he used to be -- and should have been.
If Takanohana manages to pull off a victory, however, it would end more than two years of frustration for the yokozuna who has been held winless since the 1998 autumn tourney.
It would also set a dubious record of sorts for the longest time between championships for someone who has won more than 20 Emperor's Cups.
Defending Kyushu champion Musashimaru, fresh from his win in the autumn tourney with a 14-1 record, appears eager to close out the year with a win to welcome the new millennium as sumo's top dog.
Akebono, who won the Nagoya basho in July to end a three-year drought, will want to make up for tripping up on the 13th day of the fall tourney to finish runner-up to Musashimaru at 13-2.
Fukuoka native Kaio, 28, comes to wrestle at the Kyushu tourney for the first time after finally making ozeki in September and may now want to begin his drive for promotion to yokozuna with a win before his hometown supporters.
Another ozeki Chiyotaikai, from neighboring Oita Prefecture, may also be ready to make a bid to move off sumo's second rung with a win in Fukuoka after going 11-4, 11-4 and 10-5 in the previous tournaments.
While it may be business as usual in the Emperor's Cup derby, a trio of new faces at sekiwake and komusubi suggest the potential for a topsy-turvy end to the sumo century.
New sekiwake Hayateumi, entering his fifth tourney in the elite makuuchi division for the Oitekaze stable, is already 4-0 against ozeki Dejima and Miyabiyama and will be seeking a breakthrough basho against the other top rank holders.
At komusubi, Tochinohana's climb through the ranks has gained a new impetus in recent months as he goes 30 or more practice bouts each day while Wakanosato hopes to put the knee injury suffered in Fukuoka last year behind and establish himself as a solid wrestler in the upper ranks.
Lower in the ranks, No. 3 maegashira Kyokushuzan of Mongolia hopes to build on his 9-6 in the previous tourney while compatriot Kyokutenho will attempt to recover from a 4-11 shellacking that dropped him to sixth-ranked maegashira.
American Sentoryu, who also struggled in September with a 5-10 mark, finds himself in the second-tier juryo division and will be seeking a majority of wins that will propel him back into the makuuchi division.
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