NAGOYA – High-flying maegashira Osunaarashi was brought to earth by sekiwake Goeido on Saturday, suffering his third defeat at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament.
Yokozuna Hakuho, who is seeking his 30th career championship, had the easiest of victories to run his record to 7-0 after seven days at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. He is joined in the lead by ozeki Kotoshogiku and No. 11 maegashira Takayasu.
Osunaarashi, who defeated yokozuna opponents in his two previous bouts, failed to make it three straight wins over top-tier opponents, falling in his first career bout with Goeido (5-2).
The veteran sekiwake successfully avoided the Egyptian’s powerful right forearm “kachiage” blow by angling to his left on the tachiai. Osunaarashi, also moving slightly to his left, delivered only a glancing blow to Goeido’s right shoulder and was out of position as the sekiwake seized control and forced the No. 3 maegashira out.
Hakuho fended off the charge of Aoiyama, and when the yokozuna took a step back, the Bulgarian komusubi lost his footing and crashed down to his sixth loss.
Hakuho will take on Osunaarashi on Sunday.
Kotoshogiku engineered a straightforward victory against top-ranked maegashira Shohozan (2-5). The ozeki wrapped up his opponent’s arms on the tachiai and carefully nudged him to the ring’s edge before forcing him out.
Takayasu stayed perfect with a comprehensive victory over No. 7 maegashira Tochinowaka (1-6). Seizing a grip on Tochinowaka’s belt, Takayasu took just seconds to send him flying with a perfectly executed overarm throw.
One win back of the leaders are yokozuna Kakuryu, ozeki Kisenosato and No. 16 maegashira Chiyomaru.
Kakuryu, who suffered his lone defeat on Thursday to Osunaarashi, had an easy time shoving out komusubi Aminishiki. The two entered their bout having split their 28 career matches.
Kisenosato was getting the worst of his encounter with Yoshikaze (4-3), but collected his sixth win when the aggressive No. 2 maegashira’s foot slid backward on the sandy surface and crossed the straw bales with very little assistance from the ozeki.
Yokozuna Harumafuji (5-2) recovered from an embarrassing slip up the day before against Osunaarashi to skillfully lock onto Kaisei’s belt and force the Brazilian maegashira out to an 0-7 record or the tournament. Harumafuji improved to 8-0 in his career against Kaisei.
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