SOKA, Saitama Pref. -- When Tsaguria Merab Levan of Georgia was selected among 16 aspirants hoping to make his mark on sumo's raised ring in May, little did he know that his name would go down in the age-old sport's history books just several months later.
Not since 18-year-old Englishman Nathan Strange, or Hidenokuni, stepped onto the sacred clay in 1989, has a wrestler from Europe been so successful.
In fact, Tsunami might be a more appropriate moniker for Kokkai, whose ring name means Black Sea after the region bordering his home town of Sokhumi, as the 20-year-old has taken sumo's lower echelons by storm since making his professional debut in July.