Ozeki Takakeisho on Thursday announced plans to skip the upcoming Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament starting on Sunday because of a slow recovery from an injury to his right knee that he suffered at the May basho.
As a result, he is set to drop from the second-highest rank of ozeki to sekiwake at the September tourney because he will not be able to win at least eight bouts at two consecutive tournaments.
At the May tournament, in which he made his debut as an ozeki, Takakeisho was 3-4 -- after sitting out two days -- when he withdrew.
Takakeisho will be the second new ozeki to suffer such a demotion after Musoyama, who was dropped to sekiwake following two tourneys at the second-highest rank under the current promotion system, which was introduced in 1969. If Takakeisho wins 10 or more bouts at the September basho, he could return to the ozeki rank.
On Thursday, after discussing the matter with stablemaster Chiganoura, Takakeisho told reporters: "I need to sufficiently treat my injury in order to aim for the highest-rank of this sport, or yokozuna. I fully understood the situation and chose [to withdraw].
"Unless I can improve my abilities, there is no way I will be able to get to 10 victories. I'll do my best [over the next] two months."
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