OSAKA -- The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament literally got off to a quiet start on Sunday in Osaka, as the first day of action being played out in a ring surrounded by stands empty of spectators.
The unprecedented move to bar fans from the tournament at Edion Arena Osaka was among the extraordinary measures taken to counter the spread of the new coronavirus.
Instead of the cheers of the fans, the arena echoed with the sound of clicking cameras from the limited media as the bouts proceeded with little emotion.
In one match that stood out, popular No. 4 maegashira Enho, at 99 kilograms the lightest wrestler in the uppermost makuuchi division, failed to show his trademark tenacity and was handily defeated by No. 3 maegashira Mitakeumi.
Usually invigorated by the cheering fans, the only sound that reached his ears were the voices of the announcer and in-ring judge, and his own slaps of his body as he tried to mentally prepare for battle.
"I had no adrenalin," Enho said. "Today, I couldn't see what we were fighting for. I really got a feel for how much the crowd's cheers fire me up."
How quiet was it? Even the sounds of the wrestlers stamping their feet on the dirt ring reverberated in the arena. The media, sitting in the second-floor seats, watched the action with hushed voices.
Interviews are usually conducted in the wrestlers' preparation room, but as one of the virus countermeasures, the media could only talk to the wrestlers on the other side of a fence erected in the hallway, maintaining a distance of two meters between them.
On Feb. 26, the government requested that all major events that would attract large crowds, such as sport events and festivals, should be either canceled, postponed or scaled down. Since then, many sports were put on hold.
Yokozuna Kakuryu, head of the wrestlers' association, tried to see a bright side. "While there are no fans [in the arena], we want to go out and compete in a way that pleases our supporters all around the country."
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