Japanese sumo has been in a bit of a funk this century. With the sport dominated by Mongolian yokozuna (“grand champions”) such as Asashoryu, Hakuho and Haramafuji, Japan went 58 tournaments between 2006 and 2016 without producing any tournament winners — despite strict limitations on how many foreigners are even allowed to train. Japan hasn’t […]
Japanese sumo has been in a bit of a funk this century. With the sport dominated by Mongolian yokozuna (“grand champions”) such as Asashoryu, Hakuho and Haramafuji, Japan went 58 tournaments between 2006 and 2016 without producing any tournament winners — despite strict limitations on how many foreigners are even allowed to train. Japan hasn’t […]
Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (May 17, 2016), we talk about the Western Conference finals and wonder whether the Warriors are really on the ropes after Monday night’s loss to the Thunder. Then FiveThirtyEight’s Christie Aschwanden makes her Hot Takedown debut to talk about how […]
Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (May 17, 2016), we talk about the Western Conference finals and wonder whether the Warriors are really on the ropes after Monday night’s loss to the Thunder. Then FiveThirtyEight’s Christie Aschwanden makes her Hot Takedown debut to talk about how […]
The final match of the 2016 Haru Basho — one of six professional sumo tournaments held each year — was a day-15 championship-deciding showdown between the sport’s top yokozuna. Hakuho, the White Peng, the dominant force in sumo over the past decade, was 13-1 in the tournament and hadn’t lost since his opening match. If […]
