[sumo] Sumo World Championships Day Two

[h.gilbert@auckland.ac.nz]

Here is the wrap-up for Day Two, again to be added to by others.

Howard


Apologies for the delay in the post. A farewell party got in the way before I 
could send it.

The second day of the World Championships dawned only slightly less grey than 
the first. As yesterday had run over time and there had been only a short 
break between the preliminaries and the finals, it was decided that today 
would start an hour earlier. This caught the Kyrgyzstan team on the hop, as 
they didn?t seem to show for anything today. Early flight home, or some 
sightseeing instead, perhaps? 

Anyway, all the other rikishi fronted for their competitions, except that 
Australia had to pull out of the men?s team event due to an ankle injury to 
one of their two competitors. A few of the teams in both men?s and women?s 
events had only two athletes, which put them at a slight disadvantage.

The notable events from the preliminary competition in the early part of the 
day was the 0-3 loss by the Japanese women?s team in the first round to 
Russia. USA got a bye due to Kyrgyzstan?s disappearance, Hungary and Poland 
had a ding-dong battle, eventually won by the former, and Estonia beat the 
Swiss comfortably. In the bottom half of the draw Germany beat the two from 
Norway, Ukraine followed yesterday?s good results with a 3-0 win over Italy, 
Brazil blitzed Thailand and Bulgaria beat the Netherlands. Without boring 
everyone, I?ll just let you know that Russia beat Hungary in the first semi-
final and Germany beat Brazil in the second. With the repechage system in 
place Russia?s win gave Japan another chance to aim for a medal. They beat USA 
for a match against Hungary to decide the first bronze. The other half of the 
repechage saw Ukraine beat Norway to book a bronze medal match with Brazil.

The Japanese sempo lost by tsuki-otoshi while trying to go for the belt, but 
was giving up a number of pounds to her opponent. The Japanese chuken executed 
an excellent sukui-nage at the edge to even the contest. This brought the 
Japanese and Hungarian taisho to the ring, and this saw big girl?s sumo at its 
best. The Hungarian tried to go for the belt but Tsuihiji kept her arms pushed 
up. She then moved the Hungarian to the edge and won by oshi-dashi.

The second bronze match was brilliant. Both teams had been strong throughout 
both the teams and the individual competitions. In the first match both 
competitors tried to execute leg trips after a long period of fighting for 
supremacy on the belt. They eventually both went out at the same time and the 
Ukrainian was given the win with kote-nage. The Brazilian had to be escorted 
from the edge, and may have broken a collarbone. The second match was no less 
exciting, with the Brazilian evening the match with an oshi-dashi. The third 
match was much quicker and Brazil won with oshi-taoshi to take the bronze 2-1.

The gold medal match had the crowd right behind the Germans. They rode that 
momentum and won the first two bouts, the second being a little longer. The 
third bout was academic, but the crowd still got excited. The Russian won by 
oshi-taoshi sending the German flying into the gyoji and knocking him off the 
dohyo. Amusement all around as well as German jubilation.


Women?s Team Event 

1.	Germany
2.	Russia
3.	Japan
3.	Brazil


 Earlier in the morning the Russian open weight woman had reached the final, 
and on the other side of the draw Japan?s Rie Tsuihiji was blowing away 
opponents. She was tested in a long bout in the quarterfinals (I forget the 
opponent), and then was stunned in the semi final by a perfectly executed 
hatakikomi by the German woman. Needless to say, the crowd went absolutely 
mental, as they have been every time a German has taken to the dohyo. The 
crowd today is particularly noisy as they have been handing out inflatable 
clapping sticks.

The repechage saw Anna JOZSEF (Hungary) meet Renate JAGT (Netherlands), and 
Rie TSUIHIJI (Japan) meet Bulgarian Mina ARMENKOVA for the Bronze medal 
matches. The second match was the best, with Tsuihiji moving forward and the 
Bulgarian spinning out of the move before they finally grappled near the edge 
of the dohyo. In the end Tsuihiji prevailed by executing a push.

The final was a good contest that sent the crowd into hysterics with the 
clapping sticks. The German forced her opponent to the edge of the ring in 
front of most of the crowd and executed a sukui-nage throw to send the Russian 
to the dohyo.

Women?s Open Weight 

1.	Sandra KOPPEN (Germany)
2.	Marina DVORETSKAYA (Russia)
3.	Anna JOZSEF (Hungary)
3.	Rie TSUIHIJI (Japan)




The men?s competition has seen some very big bodies going up against each 
other. The initial impression was that competitors from Norway and Russia 
looked very strong and at ease on the dohyo. They managed to control their 
bouts and fend off sometimes much bigger opponents. The Japanese competitor 
was also strong, and there were good showings from Poland, Brazil and Germany. 

Shiroikuma from the Czech Republic was solid in the tachiai, blowing away his 
first opponent. He had a slight hiccup by losing at the edge of the dohyo in 
the second bout after looking good, but he won his last preliminary to make 
the play-off to go through to the final 8. In the quarterfinal he lost to 
Jacek JARACZ of Poland. Other results were:

Thorsten SCHEIBLER (Ger) beat Barnabas TOTH (Hun)
Keisho SHIMODA (Jpn) beat Iouri GOLOUBOVSKI (Rus)
Geraldo Katsuhi FUJISHIRO (Bra) beat Ronny ALLMANN (Nor)

So some of the early form makers had bowed out in the quarter-finals. The semi-
finals saw SCHEIBLER beat JARACZ, and SHIMODA beat FUJISHIRO to reach the 
final.

The repechage matches pitted Jaracz against Toth, and Fujishiro against 
Goloubovski. The first match saw them grapple and move toward the edge. It 
then appeared that Toth pulled as Jaracz pushed and so that helped the Pole?s 
already better position (could we call that pole position?). As with the 
women?s competition, the second bronze medal match was by far the better of 
the two. The two competitors were locked up and jostling for control. The 
Russian eventually executed a leg trip, but the Brazilian managed to retain 
enough balance and push forward so that he was not turned in the trip, and 
indeed pushed his opponent to the ground and fell on top of him for the win.

The gold medal match was somewhat of an anti-climax. The crowd went wild 
because of the German competitor, and after a bit of pre-tachiai psyching out 
they began. To my mind the gyoji did not call hakkeyoi but the bout began 
anyway. The German rose but was pushed back a couple of times and forced out. 
Throughout the tournament there were a few problems with tachiai being allowed 
to let go before hakkeyoi, or simultaneous with a competitor ?breaking? the 
start. This still is a problem to sort out between Japan and the rest of the 
world, both for the competitors and the officials. To be fair to the judges, 
however, a lot of the competitors are reluctant to place their second hand on 
the dohyo early, and so they are jockeying for the ozumo style tachiai start 
anyway.

Men?s Open Weight 

1.	Keisho SHIMODA (Jpn)
2.	Thorsten SCHEIBLER (Ger)
3.	Jacek JARACZ (Poland)
3.	Geraldo Katsuhi FUJISHIRO (Bra)




In the men?s team competition for the a few teams looked strong and were 
working their way through the draw to meet each other. I suppose the early 
interest was that Germany had drawn Russia and the winner of that match had 
then to face Japan. While the Germans prevailed in the first match, the 
Japanese won the second round. Brazil, South Africa, Finland, Hungary and 
Bulgaria were all looking strong. The semi-final saw the Brazilians lose to 
Japan, and the Bulgarians defeat the high-flying South Africans.

The first bronze match was Brazil meeting Germany. The Brazilians had, like 
their women?s team, fought skilfully throughout the day. They were much 
smaller than the Germans, both in height and size. Interestingly, all were 
also of Japanese ancestry. In the first bout the German lifted the Brazilian 
out after pushing him backwards to the edge. In the second, however, the 
Brazilian managed to push his opponent to the edge and win oshi-taoshi. The 
last German was massive, and had placed second in the open weight individual 
contest. He got a strong nodowa grip and pushed the opponent back before 
bringing him forward to touch the clay (tsuki-otoshi). Germany bronze.

The second bronze was contested by South Africa and Hungary. This saw some 
very big men competing. The smallest South African lost first up by 
hatakikomi. The second bout saw two very big competitors tangle in the middle 
with both hands on the mawashi. Each was trying to look for an opening or 
execute a throw. Eventually the Hungarian was able to lever his opponent over 
the edge for the bronze medal. The third match was academic, but saw great 
driving sumo from the South African before the Hungarian sidestepped and 
pushed him out. Bronze Hungary.

The Gold Medal match saw two relatively small teams compete. The Japanese had 
been the great exponents through the earlier rounds, while the Bulgarians 
showed plenty of strength and ring sense. The first bout saw the Bulgarian 
withdraw before the tachiai, playing mind games. There was then a matta, when 
he broke first. The second time there was some doubt over the tachiai, again 
in Japan?s favour. The Japanese burst out of the tachiai and forced out his 
opponent. Japan won the second as both athletes sought a superior grip. In the 
end the Japanese managed to push his opponent back and out of the ring. With 
the medals decided the last bout was for bragging rights, with it convincingly 
won by the Bulgarian. He then motioned to the other two Japanese to ?bring it 
on? as if he could take them all. Not appreciated by the Japanese team, but it 
brought a bit of a laugh to the crowd.


Men?s Team Event 

1.	Japan
2.	Bulgaria
3.	Germany
3.	Hungary

If the first day had belonged to the Ukraine and Japan, then today was 
Germany?s with Japan as well.  Overall, Japan showed the necessary technical 
skill and enough weight to do well in the open weight. Too often for their 
heavier women it was lack of size. In general the former Soviet states 
performed well in both sex divisions, perhaps showing the benefits of a strong 
state structure in combat sports, and a strong background for most competitors 
in wrestling and judo. The overall feeling is that Europe is quite strong in 
ability and results, and Japan will always be strong at this level because of 
the regular competition, number of athletes and technical ability. The 
organization of the championships still remains heavily Japanese in many 
respects, with only certain jobs being outsourced to locals. The decisions and 
reasoning, as well as the structure are as they would be at a tournament in 
Japan.


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