In the days leading up to the Nov. 11-25 Kyushu Basho in Fukuoka, much of the talk in sumo circles centered on the ozeki trio of Baruto, Kotoshogiku and the forever injured Kotooshu being able to maintain their rank come the January tournament back in Tokyo.
All were kadoban going into the basho and anything less than a winning record would mean demotion down to sekiwake from where they would have to score ten next time out to guarantee a second try at ozeki.
This is not an easy task in the modern game given that so few of the ozeki regularly post the "required" 10 per basho at the best of times.