[sumo] All Japan College Sumo Championship

[Joe Kuroda <joe_kuroda@yahoo.com>]

All Japan College Sumo Championship - Group 
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Preview:

Manager Kazuo Yasui of Tokyo Agricultural University
Sumo Club comments this year's Nihon University
members to be the most solid in the recent memory. 

It is definitely the team to beat in the group
tournament to be held on November 7 but more likely
all the others are competing for the second best -
this group includes Nippon Taiiku Unversity, Daito
Bunka University and Kinki University.

This year's Nichi-dai Sumo Club members include: 

- Takayuki Ichihara (second year) 182 cm 157 kg 
World Sumo Championship Heavyweight Class winner
Former High School Yokozuna

- Keisho Shimoda (third year) 175 cm, 125 kg 
All Japan Sumo Weight Class Tournament 135 kg class
winner
All Japan Sumo Championship 2002 (as a first year
student)second place finish
World Sumo Championship this year Open class winner

- Katsuo Yoshida (third year)
World Sumo Championship Middleweight winner

- Kenichi Sakaizawa (third year) 188 cm 170 kg 
All Japan College Sumo Championship this year
Individual class second place finish 

+++++++++++++
Kenji Nakanishi of Senshu University was one of the
favorites to win the individual class along with the
eventual winner Hakiai of Kinki University and Shimoda
of Nihon University. Nakanishi already made it clear
that he would be joining Ozumo after his graduation
next year but there is only one more hope left of
earning a Makushita Tsukedashi ranking after getting
beaten in the first round of Final at the All Japan
Individual Class Championship yesterday.

For fourth year students, there is only one more
chance to get Makushita Tsukedashi ranking, All Japan
Sumo Championship in December.

Nakanishi lost out to Kimura, third year student from
Tokyo Agricultural University, in the round one of the
Final. Nakanishi got his favorite right in from
tachiai but once 
Kimura got migi-uwate, he could not do anything
anymore and was pushed out. "I could do nothing
against his strong shitate. My goal now is to speed up
my attack. Somehow overcoming my shortcomings, I want
to get the title at the next 
championship," Nakanishi said. 


He is 186 cm tall and weighs in at 160 kg. He displays
power "migi-yotsu" zumo. In September Nakanishi won
East Japan College Sumo Tournament Open Class and in
October at the All Japan College Individual Weight
Class Tournament he placed third. He'd prefer to join
Ozumo with Makushita Tsukedashi ranking. "I am not
getting overly conscious of it but I'd certainly not
want to miss the opportunity," Nakanishi said. 

He was born in Katsushika ward in Tokyo. He started
taking lessons at a sumo dojo while he was in Grade 4.
He was placed in Best 8 at All Japan Middle School
Sumo 
Championship. Then while at Meguro Gakuen High School,
he was in Best 16 at All Japan High School
Championships. 

As a third child in the family, he was rather an easy
going kid but that has changed March last year when
his mother passed away at the age of 52 years old.

"Kenji, you have such a gentle nature that you are not
suited to Ozumo so don't join," his mother said before
she passed away. "I took it to be a life and death
encouragement, more than ever I was inspired to work
harder," Nakanishi said. Since then he also gained 30
kg. 

"I am simply amazed by his transformation. He still
gets too fussy grabbing the mawashi. He should use his
uwate more and just try to overwhelm his opponents,"
says his sumo club manager, Oono.

Ozeki Musoyama is from the same club and three years
his senior is Juryo East 11 Katayama of Ounomatsu
Beya. 

"Since we were living together at the same dorm,
Katayama san now looks much much bigger. I hope to be
able to catch up to him very soon," Nakanishi said. 

+++++++++++++
Hakiai has never previously won a national level
tournament. At this October's All Japan College
Individual Weight Class Tournament, he had his career
high finish at the second. 

He pushed second year Nichi-dai student Yamamoto to
the dohyo edge but was thrown out. "I was really
aiming for the Yusho so I really couldn't stand the
loss. In my final year at high shool, I also ended up
in the second place at the Inter-High (School) Sumo
Championship. "I just don't seem to win the big ones,"
Hakiai said. 

In Western Japan, currently he is unrivalled as he won
the Western Japan College Championship as well as his
weight class "Yusho". His is a traditional style sumo,
moving stragiht onto his opponents and win by oshi. 

He is not big (176 cm tall and 138 kg). "I can only go
with 'oshi-zumo'. Once I get into a 'yotsu', I more or
less go into a 'give-up' mode," Hakiai admits. "He
gained much more stability as he acquired more power
moving forward," his manager Ito said.

At the last year's All Japan, Kinki University Sumo
Club won both the individual and group categories and
this year he inherited the legacy as the captain. "I
am a type who thinks there is always a way out. I
believe I can control the pressure well," Hakiai said.


Unlike his aggressive "Oshi or no way" sumo style, his
hobby is gentler as he likes to paint and draw Manga.
Contrasting his action oriented sumo with a quieter
pursuit of drawing, he feels he can focus more once he
steps onto the dohyo. He felt he was well prepared for
the championship. "Of course you can't tell until the
bouts start, but I do have a confidence in myself,"
Hakiai said before the tournament began. 

His turning point in the championship came in the
Second Round of Final when he faced Keisho Shimoda who
just won the World Championship Open Class at Riesa.
Shimoda got him into a "hidari-yotsu" position and
stopped his move. "Normally I'd 
would have thought, O.K. I am done for but this time I
was more patient," Hakiaki said describing the bout.
When Shimoda tried to finish him off by stepping
forward, Hakiai took advantage of Shimoda's move and
won by shitatenage.