Sumo wrestler Toki, who was grounded by the Japan Sumo Association after the maegashira hit and killed a pedestrian in a car accident in December, could make a return to sumo at the March tourney, sumo sources said Wednesday.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Toki submitted a progress report of the ongoing court case to chief JSA spokesman Wakamatsu, saying that through his lawyer he had "asked the court for a final verdict to be delivered as soon as possible."
While Wakamatsu didn't rule out the possibility of Toki appearing at the spring tourney, which gets under way at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on March 11, he said the JSA will not make a decision on Toki's punishment until the court case had reached its end.
Toki, a Tokyo resident whose real name is Jun Tamaki, ran into a middle-aged woman at an intersection in Osaka on Dec. 18, violating a JSA rule strictly forbidding active wrestlers from driving.