47th Fuji TV Ozumo one day tournament and other news

[Moti Dichne]

The 47th Fuji one-day tournament was held today. The winner was Daieishou who beat Houshouryuu in the finals for the Cup, earning himself 2,500,000 yen in prize money. He beat Takakeishou in the third round by yorikiri, and beat Azumaryuu by tsuridashi in the quarterfinals -showing some nifty belt skills, they say. "Yotsu? Occasionally. I will be brushing up on my oshi skills.. It's been a while since I've beaten the Ozeki (he lost the last eight times). He was the highest ranked participant so I told myself that after beating him, I need to get the yusho," said Daieishou a bit later.

In the Juryo tournament, Asanoyama lost to Kitanowaka (who went on to win the tourney) in the second round. "It's too bad, but I am aiming to take the Makuuchi tournament yusho next year," said Asanoyama. He then spoke to the press . "I'm still at the early stages of preparations. I'll be upping the pace starting tomorrow (the 6th) by doing sumo with my heyamates. Degeiko? It's very important to face other sekitori in training.  If the opportunity arises, I'll go," he explained.

Shoudai speaks out regarding his performance last basho. "I had injured my right big toe in training in December and contemplated kyujo, but it was important for me to enter Hatsu. It's my 'kicking foot' and I felt quite uncomfortable during the tachiai. The pain was strong and I couldn't even do sumo in training. I started taking painkillers a day before the start of the basho, and found myself taking three different kinds of pills because of the pain. I taped three of my toes together. I couldn't get that first step in. Right after my sixth loss (and losing the chance to return to Ozeki) it felt better. I managed to go 6-6 but then re-injured the toe and lost all remaining bouts.. I'm good now. I think I will fall out of sanyaku but will gambarize and am aiming for double-digit wins!" he declared. This was Shoudai, of course.