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Japan's ancient sport of sumo needs some brighter days

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The most damage inflicted in sumo in recent times has been to the image of Japan's tradition-steeped national sport.

An alcohol-fueled restaurant brawl that left a Mongolian wrestler with a fractured skull and a sexual assault scandal involving the sport's highest-ranked referee have rocked the sport in recent months. Those episodes followed a match-fixing investigation in 2011 and the death of a teenage wrestler in training in 2007 that have tainted sumo over the last decade.

Organizers are hoping to restore its battered reputation when the Spring Grand Sumo tournament starts on the weekend.

Takanoiwa, who fractured his skull in an altercation with former Grand Champion Harumafuji in a restaurant last October, is hoping to make a comeback at the Osaka event.

"I'm just focusing on doing my best," the 28-year-old Takanoiwa told reporters last week during a training session for the tournament. "It will take a bit more time to be ready."


Source :- yahoonews
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