21st July 2023 - Sumo Nagoya 2023 Day 13
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Wow! What a tournament so far. There has been some strange happenings
for sure.
Kirishima (former Kiribayama) has returned and been doing fairly well.
He won his first bout as an Ozeki so the gods will be happy. Hopefully
he can get his kashi-koshi and avoid being kadoban with Takakeisho in
at Aki.
Going into day 13, we had Nishikigi and Hokutofuji leading the pack.
Who would of thought our short sighted friend Nishikigi has been
leading the race for the yusho? He is solid at the moment and it is
great to see him so genki.
Day 13 has been a fabulous day of sumo. Most of the days in this
tournament have been fantastic in fairness. Gonoyama, Tamawashi caught
their kachi-koshi today. Kotoeko is close with 7 wins.
Hokuseiho has earned his first make-koshi in his career. Poor chap but
hopefully he takes it on the chin and comes back fighting hard.
Takayasu teeters around the edge of make-koshi with a 6-7 record.
Asanoyama is also teetering around. Abi is vacating a komusubi slot
with a 4-9 record.
There was a fantastic bout between Ura and Tobizaru. It seems Tobizaru
has been using a loose mawashi as a tactic of late. The tactic seems
to work for him. There was a lot of holding of each other until
eventually Tobizaru ended up on top of Ura. Tobizaru is 7-6.
Another great bout was Nishikigi and Hakuoho. Yes, I have kept quiet
about our new wuenderkind. Nishikigi was holding his ground and
showing how solid he can be. Eventually they end up grabbing each
other for an extended hug. Hakuoho steps forward, brings his left leg
behind Nishikigi's and then Nishikigi is on the ground. Both ended up
with 10-3 records.
With our Ozeki hopefuls, it seems we might only have a single hopeful
remaining. Wakamotoharu took out his inability to meet the 33 win
promotion criteria on poor Daieisho today. This means both will fail
to get close to 33 wins. So this just leaves Hoshoryu. Well he smashed
Krishima today and so the hope remains. I think there is just one more
win required from Hoshoryu.
At the top, we have Hokutofuji leadiing the yusho race. He is chased
closely by Nishikigi, Hoshoryu and Hakuoho. We have some exciting
bouts to come with these 4. Who knows, we might even have some crazy
multiple way playoff! Any way, hakkeyoi!
