Word: asashoryu
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...Suspicions of fixed bouts arise occasionally, but lately the commitment and character of ranking sumo wrestlers has come under question. Mongolian yokozuna (grand champion) Asashoryu begged off from participating in a tour of Japan, citing an injury, but he was then filmed playing soccer at home in Mongolia, earning him a two-tournament ban. Last February, then-stable master Junichi Yamamoto was arrested on suspicion of ordering three wrestlers to beat a 17-year-old during a training session - the youth later died of his injuries. Yamamoto and the wrestlers were arrested and charged, and are awaiting trial...
Those gods--who rule the Japan Sumo Association--have long felt that there has been a bit too much foreign infusion. Indeed, in the past two years, the only wrestler to hold the highest sumo rank of yokozuna has been Asashoryu, a 25-year-old sensation from Mongolia (where he was born Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj). Asashoryu has won the past six grand sumo tournaments, and he appears to be on track to win his seventh, which would be a record. One of the most popular up-and-comers today is Kotooshu, 22, a Bulgarian (born Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov) with quick feet...
...PROMOTED. ASASHORYU, 22, 136-kilogram ethnic-Mongolian sumo wrestler, to yokozuna, the highest rank in Japan's ancient sport; in Tokyo. Asashoryu is the first Mongolian, and the third foreigner, to win the title. With only four years of professional sumo experience, his rise is the fastest in the modern history of the sport...
...sashimi, he knew it was time to hang up the loincloth. "I have no regrets," he told the press. Maybe, but sumo's notoriously conservative overlords might, as Takanohana was the only active Japanese yokozuna. The most Japanese of sports may crown as its next champion a Mongolian named Asashoryu. Tsuneo Watanabe, the head of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, said: "I pray Takanohana's retirement isn't symbolic of Japan's decline." In a country that seems to be shrinking every day in every way, there may be no Japanese sumo who can fill Taka's immense legacy...
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