Sumo

Onosato Manhandles Hiradoumi to Stay Perfect at Autumn Basho

The sekiwake grappler is in dominant form at the 15-day Autumn Basho in Tokyo as he bids for promotion to sumo's second-highest rank.

by
Jim Armstrong
September 14, 2024

Onosato continued his dominant run at the Autumn Basho on Saturday, September 14 when he made quick work of Hiradoumi to stay in the sole lead.

In the day's featured bout, sekiwake Onosato got his preferred right-hand-inside position after the face-off and shoved out Hiradoumi in a matter of seconds to stay undefeated at 7-0 after the frontal force-out win.

Komusubi Hiradoumi put up little resistance and dropped to 4-3.

Onosato, a native of Ishikawa Prefecture, is looking unstoppable as he bids for possible promotion to ozeki after this tournament. He needs just five more wins to get the required 12 that should put him over the top.

In the day's final bout at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Wakamotoharu dealt Kotozakura's title hopes a serious blow when he got both arms around the ozeki and bulldozed him out over the edge.

"My initial charge wasn't that strong but I was able to recover," said No 3 maegashira Wakamotoharu, who improved to 5-2. "I was able to do my style of sumo by moving forward."

It was the second loss in three days for Kotozakura, whose chances of winning his first Emperor's Cup are diminishing by the day. He now stands at 5-2.

Kirishima Improves to 6-1

In other major bouts at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament, sekiwake Kirishima executed a frontal crush-out at the edge to defeat Kotoshoho and stay one win off the lead at 6-1. Fourth-ranked Kotoshoho fell to 4-3.

Ozeki Hoshoryu, who has underperformed thus far, came bursting out of the face-off and deployed a shove to the neck to send Shodai out and improve to 3-4. It was the type of performance that Hoshoryu needs to pull off more often.

Fourth-ranked maegashira Shodai got off to a good start in this tournament with four consecutive wins but lost his third straight to fall to 3-4.

Atamifuji Conquers Tobizaru

No 2 maegashira Atamifuji shoved Tobizaru off the raised ring and into the first row of seats to improve to 3-4. Top maegashira Tobizaru looked overwhelmed by the larger grappler and dropped to 2-5.

Komusubi Daieisho swatted down struggling top maegashira Takanosho to pick up his fourth win against three losses. Takanosho, who fell to yokozuna Terunofuji in a playoff at the previous basho, dropped to 2-5.

No 2 maegashira Oho thrust down sekiwake Abi to move to 4-3. Sekiwake Abi has struggled in the first week of the tournament and fell to 2-5.

Further down the ranks, sumo's Ironman Tamawashi shoved down fellow rank-and-filer Bushozan to pick up his third win against four losses. Bushozan dropped to 4-3.