Yokozuna Hakuho and new ozeki Asanoyama both picked up their third straight wins of the July Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday, while three wrestlers from the sport's elite ranks suffered their first losses.
Hakuho wasted little time dispatching top-ranked maegashira Endo (1-2), who had beaten the Mongolian-born yokozuna twice in 14 previous meetings.
After a hard initial hit, Hakuho blasted the rank-and-filer off the dohyo so hard that his momentum nearly carried him out of Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, the tournament's venue following its relocation to the capital as a precaution against the coronavirus pandemic.