Sumo

Terunofuji Serves Notice with a Convincing Win Over Wakamotoharu at Nagoya Basho

The grand champion turned in his most dominant performance yet at the 15-day Nagoya Basho to indicate he is back to peak form.

by
Jim Armstrong
July 16, 2024

Yokozuna Terunofuji took advantage of a superior face-off on Tuesday, July 16 to defeat Wakamotoharu and remain undefeated after three days of the Nagoya Basho.

In the day's final bout at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Terunofuji came exploding out of the initial charge and quickly got a left arm in on Wakamotoharu before driving the No 2 maegashira out over the edge to improve to 3-0.

Wakamotoharu wasn't able to mount any sort of counterattack and dropped to 2-1.

Terunofuji won the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament to capture his ninth Emperor's Cup but was then forced to pull out of the next two tournaments due to nagging injuries.

He has looked confident in his first two bouts and Tuesday's win over Wakamotoharu was his best performance yet. If he can keep that type of sumo up, he will have a good shot at taking home his 10th championship title.

The Mongolian grappler is tied for the early lead with four other wrestlers.

Kirishima Maintains Perfect Record at Nagoya Basho

In other major bouts at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, sekiwake Kirishima executed a perfectly timed underarm throw at the edge to defeat third-ranked maegashira Gonoyama (1-2) and improve to 3-0.

Mongolian Kirishima has battled injury in recent tournaments but appears to be in good form this time out. He is hoping a strong result will allow him to return to the second-highest rank of ozeki.

Ozeki Hoshoryu used a solid frontal force-out to defeat No 2 maegashira Mitakeumi to pick up his second win. Mitakeumi (1-2) has now lost two in a row after an opening-day win over Onosato.

Top maegashira Atamifuji deployed a frontal crush-out to defeat ozeki Takakeisho and improve to 2-1.

Takakeisho, who is battling a neck injury and needs a winning record in Nagoya to maintain his ozeki status, dropped to 1-2.

Ozeki Kotozakura notched back-to-back wins when he elbowed out top maegashira Meisei to move to 2-1. Meisei, who beat ozeki Takakeisho on Day 1, lost his second straight bout to fall to 1-2.

Newly promoted sekiwake Onosato swatted down Daieisho shortly after the face-off to pick up what felt like a must win to improve to 1-2. Komusubi Daieisho also stands at 1-2.

After winning the previous basho in May, 24-year-old Onosato came into the Nagoya tournament as one of the favorites.

But he lost his first two bouts and a third straight loss would have been a big setback for the up-and-coming native of Ishikawa Prefecture. But he avoided further damage with an important win.

Komusubi Hiradoumi used a barrage of arm thrusts to send sekiwake Abi backpedaling out over the straw ridge to give both grapplers a 1-2 record.

Asanoyama, Oshoma, Shonannoumi Pick up Third Wins

In a showdown of No 12 maegashira, former ozeki Asanoyama shoved out Churanoumi to improve to 3-0.

Asanoyama missed the entire previous tournament due to injury which resulted in him sliding down the rankings.

Ninth-ranked Oshoma is also at 3-0 after he hauled down 39-year-old veteran Tamawashi, who dropped to 2-1. Tamawashi is also a ninth-ranked maegashira.

Shonannoumi used a pulling overarm throw to improve to 3-0 with a comfortable win over fellow fifth-ranked maegashira Onosho, who is 0-3.