Aonishiki faces Houshouryuu

[Moti Dichne]

Ozeki Aonishiki, who will be aiming for his third consecutive yusho and the promotion to Yokozuna in Haru, visited Arashio beya for his first pre-tournament degeiko. He had nine bouts against fellow degeiko-ing Yokozuna Houshouryuu and others, finishing with a record of 5 wins and 4 losses. This was his first sumo keiko session since the Hatsu Basho, and he reflected with satisfaction, "My body was moving. I still have time, so I want to gradually improve my condition." After four bouts against Komusubi Wakamotoharu and others, Houshouryuu asked him for some head to heads. He struggled somewhat, finishing with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses against an opponent he has been dominating, having won all five bouts against him in honbasho. including a yusho match. He seemed to be out of breath quite early, saying, "This is as good as I can do. I don't want to push myself too hard and get injured," and declined further requests despite being a lower-ranked rikishi. He only trained around 10 bouts at a time, which was not enough, and his lack of stamina is a future issue. Even so, "The sumo you do on the keiko-ba and in honbasho are different. As long as I can give it my all in training, that's fine. I don't care about winning or losing," he said, adhering to his own style of training. On March 2nd, he will attend a joint training session of Tokitsukaze Ichimon and is determined to increase the pace of his training by continuing to train at other heya.