Yokozuna Kisenosato and Kakuryu have pulled out of the upcoming Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament due to injuries, their respective stablemasters said Thursday.
The announcement of their withdrawal, which came three days before the start of the meet at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, once again dashed fans' hopes of seeing all four yokozuna compete from the start to end of a single basho.
The autumn tournament is the fourth since the top-ranked slots, two each on the east and west sides, were filled at the spring tournament for the first time in 17 years, but in none of the four tournaments have all four yokozuna lasted all 15 days.