The ozeki trio of Kisenosato, Kotoshogiku and Kakuryu continued to set the pace at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on May 13, marking their seventh wins, while the surprisingly fragile yokozuna Hakuho fell to his third loss.
Kisenosato dominated sekiwake Toyonoshima with heavy thrusts and solid footwork. The ozeki appeared calm and focused as he methodically forced the sekiwake back. He finished the job with a well-placed throat thrust and a shoulder-first push.
Co-leader Kotoshogiku was driven all the way to the brink of defeat by No. 3 maegashira Toyohibiki (4-4) but twisted to the side and threw his way out of trouble, although he also fell from the ring in the process. The ozeki won the bout, but was not very convincing. After his loss the day before he may be running out of steam.
Winning the big showdown of the day, new ozeki Kakuryu slipped inside Baruto's defenses and grappled him onto his back to hold his losses down to one. Barring some big surprises, Baruto is now pretty much out of the running for the championship since he now has three losses.
Hakuho, the defending champion, was beaten quickly by sekiwake Goeido. The yokozuna went on the offense from the get-go, and although he tried desperately to find an opening he just couldn't come through and was forced out by the sekiwake.
"I finally beat him," Goeido said.
Hakuho lost to Aminishiki--on the opening day--and Toyohibiki on May 12.
Determined to show that he is better than he has been fighting recently, Kotooshu (5-3) came out hard against komusubi Homasho (1-7) and gained a clear advantage. He then faded a bit, but roared ahead a second time to claim the victory.
Harumafuji crushed No. 3 maegashira Takekaze with a powerful attack to get back on track after what has been a less than stellar start. The Mongolian, who can keep up with the best of them when he is on stride, has three losses, and Takekaze has only one win.
Komusubi Aminishiki moved up to an even 4-4 with a win over Russian top maegashira Aran, who is having an awful tournament and has lost all eight of his bouts.
In the rank-and-file, Tochiozan, at maegashira No. 4, pulled down No. 2 maegashira Myogiryu for win number 7 and maegashira No. 16 Takarafuji stayed up with the leaders by defeating juryo wrestler Yoshiazuma.
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