Yokozuna Kisenosato cleared the first hurdle in continuing his career, notching his kachikoshi eighth victory by beating No. 3 maegashira Endo at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday in Tokyo.
The matchup took on an unusual twist as the two wrestlers had three false starts after the time limit on Day 10 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Kisenosato (8-2), however, kept his composure and marched straight ahead after the jump-off to force Endo out of the ring.
Although eight wins are still not considered up to snuff for a yokozuna, it was a triumph for Kisenosato, whose career is at stake after skipping all or part of the past eight tournaments because of injuries.
The yokozuna duo of Hakuho and Kakuryu both remained unbeaten. Hakuho powerfully forced out massive sekiwake Ichinojo, while Kakuryu -- once forced to the edge of the ring -- came back to beat sekiwake Mitakeumi (6-4).
The loss dealt a further blow to the hopes of Mitakeumi -- winner of the previous tournament in July -- to obtain a promotion to ozeki, as tough opponents wait toward the end of the basho.
In a matchup between one-loss ozeki, Takayasu deftly twisted down veteran Goeido to remain one win behind the leaders.
The other ozeki, Tochinoshin, forced out top maegashira Kaisei to improve to 6-4, putting him two wins away from avoiding demotion. An injury forced Tochinoshin to withdraw from the previous basho, in which he debuted as an ozeki.
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