Daieisho stuns yokozuna Terunofuji on Day 2 at Spring Basho

Giant slayer Daieisho stunned lone grand champion Terunofuji on Monday, March 14, a day of upsets at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.

Top maegashira Daieisho didn’t have the best start in the day’s final bout but knocked Terunofuji off balance with an arm thrust to neck before spinning him around and shoving the Mongolian yokozuna out to the delight of the crowd at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.

Daieisho, who defeated ozeki Shodai on Day 1, improved to 2-0 while Terunofuji dropped to 1-1.

“The face-off wasn’t that great but I was able to recover well,” Daieisho said. “I will just try to keep the momentum going tomorrow.”

Terunofuji injured his heel in the second week of the New Year Basho in January. Whether that was a factor in Monday’s loss was uncertain but he didn’t look as sharp as he has in previous tournaments.

The yokozuna lost the New Year tourney when he was defeated by Mitakeumi on the final day and is hoping to redeem himself in Osaka with a third Emperor’s Cup at sumo’s highest rank.

In other major bouts, newly promoted ozeki Mitakeumi cruised to a second straight win with a confident display of sumo against up-and-coming grappler Ura.

Fighting against an opponent known for his unorthodox tricks, Mitakeumi was all business in his bout against the top maegashira.

Ura attempted to grab Mitakeumi’s leg at one point but the Dewanoumi stable wrestler was having none of it and promptly waltzed his opponent out with a frontal force-out to improve to 2-0. Ura dropped to 0-2. 

It was a rough day at the office for the other two ozeki wrestlers.

Mongolian Ichinojo got a strong left-hand outside grip on the belt immediately after the face-off and overpowered ozeki Takakeisho to pick up his first win.

Takakeisho, who needs a winning record to maintain his ozeki status, was unable to use his trademark thrusting techniques and dropped to 1-1.

The misery continued for demotion-threatened ozeki Shodai.

Shodai, who lost on the opening day, put up little resistance and was shoved out in a matter of seconds by komusubi Takanosho, who improved to 1-1.

After going a dismal 6-9 in the New Year tourney, Shodai must post a winning record in this meet but, so far at least, the results aren’t encouraging. 

It’s not just that Shodai is losing but he is clearly lacking in confidence and that will be a big problem for the Tokitsukaze stable wrestler.

Takanosho said the strong face-off was a key factor.

“I just tried to move forward and not stop,” Takanosho said. “My face-off wasn’t very good yesterday, so I was determined to improve on that today and it paid off.”

Newly promoted sekiwake Wakatakakage burst out of the face-off and overwhelmed defenseless No. 3 maegashira Onosho (1-1) with a crush-out move to post his second straight win. 

Abi, also a newly promoted sekiwake, bounced back from his opening-day loss to Onosho with a one-sided win over Tamawashi.

Abi used his trademark thrusting attack to send No. 2 maegashira Tamawashi out to his second straight loss.

No. 7 maegashira Takayasu, who missed the previous tournament due to a COVID-19 outbreak at his stable, deployed a textbook beltless arm throw to send Sadanoumi sprawling to the dirt surface.

Takayasu improved to 2-0 while No. 8 maegashira Sadanoumi fell to 0-2.

In an all-Mongolian showdown, fourth-ranked maegashira Kiribayama also used an arm throw to topple winless komusubi Hoshoryu and improve to 2-0.

Eighth-ranked maegashira Chiyoshoma fought off an arm throw and used one of his own to defeat Okinoumi and pick up his second straight win in a closely contested showdown.

Both wrestlers fell out simultaneously but it was No. 7 maegashira Okinoumi, who touched down first to suffer his second loss against no wins.

Fourth-ranked maegashira Endo relied on a superb overarm throw to defeat third-ranked Meisei and give both wrestlers a 1-1 record.

No. 14 maegashira Yutakayama used a powerful series of arm thrusts to dispatch Chiyomaru, denying the 13th-ranked maegashira his 500th career win.

Yutakayama improved to 2-0 while Chiyomaru dropped to 0-2.

Follow Jim’s daily reports on the sumo Spring Basho here.

Author: Jim Armstrong