Japanese ozeki Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku continued to set the pace at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on May 9 with unblemished records, but Estonia's Baruto fell prey to giant-killer Aminishiki and joins yokozuna Hakuho with one loss.
Hakuho, the defending champion and still the odds-on favorite despite his bumpy start, held his ground against No. 2 maegashira Myogiryu, who touched the dirt under heavy fire at center ring to wrap up the fourth day's matches at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan arena.
Kotoshogiku, fighting better than expected thus far, claimed an easy win over Russian top maegashira Aran, who has yet to win a bout. Kotoshogiku took him head-on and plowed ahead until it was over.
Komusubi Aminishiki dealt ozeki Baruto a big upset, turning around what looked like a defeat in the making by twisting out of the way at the edge and using a belt hold with his right hand to swing the Estonian out. Aminishiki upset Hakuho on the opening day and is surprisingly strong against the top-ranked opponents. He is 2-2, however, having lost to Kisenosato and Toyonoshima.
"I wanted to get inside and fight aggressively," Aminishiki said. "But I managed to maneuver around well."
Co-leader Kisenosato, meanwhile, is starting to look pretty comfortable at ozeki, and wrestled out No. 2 maegashira Gagamaru (1-3) for his fourth straight win. This is Kisenosato's third tournament at ozeki. He went 11-4 in his debut and 9-6 the last time.
New ozeki Kakuryu, of Mongolia, came out low and hard and then duked it out with sekiwake Toyonoshima in a tough thrusting bout. Though Toyonoshima was gaining some ground, he lost his balance and fell forward as Kakuryu immobilized his left arm. Kakuryu is 3-1 and Toyonoshima 2-2.
The other ozeki also got through the day unscathed.
Mongolia's Harumafuji whipped top maegashira Takayasu (0-4) off the ground with a powerful armlock throw and moves up to 3-1. Getting his best face-off this tournament, Bulgaria's Kotooshu railroaded No. 3 maegashira Takekaze out of the ring for his second win.
Sekiwake Goeido completely overpowered komusubi Homasho for his third win. Homasho has nothing but losses so far after going up against three ozeki before Goeido drove him out.
Four rank-and-file wrestlers also remained unbeaten.
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