Tochinoshin To Be Promoted To Ozeki

While Tochinoshin had to swallow the bitter pill of coming up short at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament, he is now preparing for a new responsibility, after being promoted to ozeki.

“I think it’s going to be really tough. I want to devote myself to training and fight as a powerful sumo wrestler,” Tochinoshin told a news conference about his promotion to the second highest level in the sport.

Tochinoshin was virtually guaranteed an ozeki promotion following his 13-2  record at the Summer tournament at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.

“I expected to be ozeki earlier. But when I won 10 straight bouts, I thought I could get promoted if I tried a bit harder,” said Tochinoshin, who will be the fourth-oldest wrestler to be promoted to ozeki since the six-event annual system was established in 1958.

The Japan Sumo Association will convene a board of directors meeting Wednesday to discuss Tochinoshin’s promotion. To date, no promotion recommendation has been rejected by the board.

The 30-year-old, whose real name is Levan Gorgadze and who will become the third European to earn the honor of the sport’s second highest rank.

Original Story: The Japan Times