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Yokozuna Deliberation Council convenes

Nov. 25th - The Yokozuna Deliberation Council met this morning at the Ryogoku Kokugikan where the majority of the meeting focused on the standards required for Kisenosato to obtain promotion to the Yokozuna rank based on his performance at the 2014 Hatsu basho. The YDC announced that they will recommend the Ozeki for promotion to Yokozuna if he takes the Hatsu basho yusho with at least 13 wins. If Kisenosato fails to yusho, they stated that it would be difficult to recommend promotion even if he wins 14 bouts. Hitoshi Uchiyama, chairman of the council, stated, "It must be 13 wins plus the yusho. If he takes the yusho with just 12 wins, the fans will surely say 'why?' If he wins 14 and does not take the yusho, I don't think we'll hear anyone calling for promotion, and we'll have doubts of our own." The previous eight promotions to the rank all proceeded a rikishi winning two consecutive basho although Futahaguro was promoted to Yokozuna in 1986 without taking a single yusho.

As for Kisenosato, reporters caught up with him at the Naruto-beya facilities in Fukuoka and asked his thoughts on a possible promotion. "I'm not even worried about it," he flatly replied. "There's nothing I can do by just thinking about it. I'm going to go about things as normal. Back in Nagoya, I thought too much about the promotion to be honest, and places that didn't hurt all of a sudden started hurting." When asked how he celebrated on the night of senshuraku, he replied, "I hardly drank any sake."

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