Sports

Sumo wrestler Hoshoryu becomes yokozuna grand champion

Jan 30 (NHK) - Mongolian-born sumo wrestler Hoshoryu has been promoted to the sport's top rank of yokozuna grand champion. He became the first newly promoted grand champion in three and a half years.

The promotion was made official at the Japan Sumo Association's meeting on wrestler rankings for the next grand sumo tournament scheduled for March and an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors on Wednesday. Two messengers then visited the Tatsunami stable, where the wrester belongs, and notified Hoshoryu and the stable master of the promotion.

In accepting the promotion, the 25-year-old wrestler vowed to strive so as not to disgrace the title of yokozuna.

In a news conference that followed, the wrestler said he is happy beyond words. He said he kept feeling excited since the last day of the New Year tournament, when he won the title for the second time. He said he has since been unable to sleep enough, adding that he may have good sleep from today. He expressed his hope of becoming a solid wrestler and striving to clinch two-digit tourney titles.

Hoshoryu is a nephew of former Yokozuna Grand Champion Asashoryu, who clinched 25 tournament victories during his career.

The younger wrestler made his debut in professional sumo in 2018. Following his first tournament victory in Nagoya, central Japan, in July 2023, he was promoted to ozeki champion.

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