Sumo - Nagoya Day 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have exciting times afoot. During the last basho, Kiribayama gained 
the rank of Ozeki and became Kirishima. There were a few retirements 
which have caused a bit of a shake up. Takakeisho cleared kadoban 
status and so keeps at ozeki. In the end, we have 3 key contenders for 
ozeki in Daieisho, Wakamotoharu and Hoshoryu. Oh and of course 
Terunofuji returned and showed he is still capable of some amazing 
sumo after yet more knee surgery. 

So going into this basho, we have a few kyujo (injured) wrestlers. 
Takakeiosho is out and so will face kadoban status in September. 
Wakatakakage is also out still. Surprisingly Kirishima was announced 
as kyujo during today's bouts He has a rib injury and so I am not 
expecting to see him during this tournament. Poor chap! Hopefully all 
get better soon and can fight on in September.

Amongst all of this noise, we have the first basho in makuuchi for 
another of the former Hakuho's stable. This time it is Ochiai who has 
changed his name to Hakuoho. This is a wrestler who has flown through 
the ranks and looks very promising. He started in January 2023 at 
Makushita 15 and got the yusho with no losses. March was a slight 
shock in that he had losses but still have an extremely respectable 
record of 10-5. In the last basho, this improved to 14-1 with a loss 
of the yusho to Gonoyama. Lets stop prattling on and find out how he 
did in his first top division match!

First up was Hakuoho against Aioyama. This was a fight of arms rather 
than feet. Aioyama fell back and stayed stuck in position as arms 
flailed. It took a tatical step back from Hakuoko to get Aioyama to 
move his feet and enable Hakuoko to push forwards and win the bout. 
There was a cracking cheesy grin from Hakuoho. Well he might as well 
live up to Hakuho's reputation in every way. 

As expected, the Hoshoryu and Tobizaru match was lively. Arm slapping, 
roving around, a swift moment of hope tht Hoshoryu is out but actually 
Tobizaru hits the ground first. Chaos! Tobizaru is never going to be 
the next Yokozuna but he certainly offers a spectacle and some great 
fighting spirit. 

With our ozeki hopefuls, all won on their first day. On the stug's 
favourites front, Kotoeko and Tamawashi got wins while Ura and 
Tobizasu had losses. Gonoyama who got the yusho for May's Juryo also 
got a win. One favourite I forgot was Nishikigi but he got the 
win through Kirshima's going kyujo. I am looking forward to the rest 
of the basho. Hakkeyoi!