Yokozuna Musashimaru barely escaped being tagged with back-to-back losses at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday while ozeki hopeful Asashoryu had to battle back from certain defeat himself to maintain his perfect record.
The Mongolian sekiwake, however, came back from the edge of the ring at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium to throw down komusubi Tosanoumi for his fifth win and join ozeki Chiyotaikai and rank-and-filers Buyuzan and Takanonami as the undefeated front-runners.
Musashimaru, the winner of the last two tournament championships, was nearly stunned for a second straight loss in the day's final bout as Takanowaka, a fourth-ranked maegashira, got the Samoa-born grand champion stumbling forward with a right-hand belt throw.
Takanowaka (3-2) yanked the yokozuna forward with his right hand and got him teetering on the bales on his right leg as he tried to muster enough drive to push the yokozuna out.