Takayasu lost his bout today against Takarafuji in the January sumo
tournament. That means he won't get his ozeki rank back as having 6 losses he
can't rack up 10 wins. Sumo tournaments last for 15 days, so rikishi can only
have a maximum of 15 wins.
Takayasu injured his left elbow in the July tournament last year, but
managed to get 8 wins that secured his rank. He sat out the next tournament
that counts as a losing record, so absent rikishi face demotion. Silly system,
but hey, this is Japan.
He returned in November as a kadoban ozeki, meaning if he gets 8 wins he stays
ozeki, otherwise he'll be demoted to sekiwake. He got only 3 wins and thus
entered the January basho in 2020 as a sekiwake.
But he had a chance as an "ozekiwake" if he collects 10 wins he'll
automatically
be promoted back to ozeki.
And he lost today... Will he be able to defend at least his current sekiwake
rank? He doesn't have much of a margin for error as out of the remaining six
bouts he needs to win five.
As a Takayasu fan I can't really fathom that he's not an ozeki anymore.
He'll have a very tough year. I hope that his left side recovers eventually and
he
won't fall all the way down the banzuke like Terunofuji did. Btw Terunofuji is
knocking on Makunouchi's door... He's currently at Juryo 13.
