Veteran maegashira Aminishiki will sit out the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament starting this weekend after failing to recover from a serious foot injury, his stablemaster Isegahama said on Thursday.
Thirteenth-ranked Aminishiki, at 37 the oldest active sumo wrestler, pulled out on the third day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament after tearing his left Achilles tendon.
"It looks like it will be impossible for him to join (midway through the Nagoya Basho)," said Isegahama. "We can't be half-baked about it. The injury has to heal completely."
Aminishiki's withdrawal means that at the Autumn Basho in September he will drop down to the second-tier juryo division for the first time since 2004.