Posts Tagged ‘Sumo’

Sumo Match of the Century!

May 26, 2016

Sumo Match of the Century!

In sports news, the Haru Basho (Spring Tournament) in Osaka made Sumo wrestling history earlier this month as defending champ Hakuhō Shō faced off with Harumafuji Kōhei. It was over faster than the 2nd Ali-Liston fight.

Harumafuji lunged at Hakuhō, who sidestepped. Harumafuji couldn’t stop, and staggered out of the ring to lose. It was over in 1 second. Hakuhō had won his 36th Emperor’s Cup.

Some Sumo fans are saying that Hakuhō, a 31-year-old veteran, should hang up his mawashi and go out a winner after this wild match, but he plans to fight on for his 37th Emperor’s Cup title.

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Springtime Sports!

April 6, 2015

Springtime Sports!

April is here, when many a sports fan’s fancy turns to the Major League Baseball opening game Honozumo sumo tournament at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. All the sport’s heavyweights were at the ceremonial meet-up on Friday, the top sumo wrestlers from Mongolia, Georgia, Bulgaria and Estonia who currently dominate this quintessentially Japanese sport.

Here are some of the highlights and controversies:

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Attention Sports Fans

November 14, 2011

Attention Sports Fans

American sports fans: upset that there’s no pro basketball due to the NBA strike? Bored by the NFL and NHL, disgusted with college football? Don’t despair. The Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament has just started at Fukuoka Kokusai Center and continues through November 27th. Don’t miss it, it’s the last big sumo tournament of 2011. This is truly heavy competition: rishiki (wrestlers) weight in at 250 to 400 pounds. And talk about your World Series: competitors are from Mongolia, Brazil, Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Estonia, and the Czech Republic as well as Japan.

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So you Want to Be a Sumo Champ

November 5, 2011

So You Want to Be a Sump Champ

Guys: if you want to be a champion sumo wrestler, don’t look as your belly, look at your hands.  According to a newly published study, the ratio between the length of your index finger and ring finger might indicate your chance of sumo success. A smaller ratio is believed to indicate greater in-utero testosterone exposure, and has been correlated with increased performance in competitive sports. Data about sumo pros seem to agree. A higher ratio? Well … fly-fishing is nice, too.

 More:

“Friday Weird Science: Look Carefully at your hands…were you meant to be a Sumo Champion?” Scicurious, Neurotic Physiology

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-bsZ

Image (“Mutsugamine Iwanosuke on the Cover of the Sports Illustrated Sumo Issue, after Utagawa Kuniyoshi”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Say It Ain’t So, Sumo

February 6, 2011

Say It Ain't So, Sumo

This week’s big story in sports is the sumo wrestling scandal. It’s heavy: sumo wrestlers weigh in at over 300 pounds. The scandal: athletes have been fixing matches for Yakuza gangsters in return for cash payoffs. The repercussions: the grand tournament of Japan’s national sport has been cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Some sumo wrestlers have fixed matches by texting on their cell phones. The fingers of these huge pro athletes are so fat that some use iPads as cell phones.

In other sports news, three Pakistani cricket players have been banned from world play for cheating, and there is some kind of indoor football match in Texas.

Bonus: The Sumo Success Diet.

Secrets of the sumo wrestler’s diet,” Monami Yui, CNN City Pulse

It’s really not much of a secret. Eat lots of this with big hunks of meat.

Want to know how you’d look as a sumo wrestler? There’s an app for that.

 

Image (“Say It Ain’t So, Sumo, after Utagawa Kuniyoshi”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine