Asanoyama Topples Ozeki Aonishiki on Day 1; Hanada Calls It the Bout of the Day
Former ozeki and East Maegashira 1 Asanoyama, 32 (Takasago), beat ozeki Aonishiki (Ajigawa) by yoritaoshi on Kyushu Day 1 in their first meeting. Aonishiki took both sides of the mawashi and tried a kubinage, but Asanoyama held, used his right ottsuke and drove him out. THE ANSWER notes the bout was fierce enough that Asanoyama's mawashi rode up. 'What was good was that I got him up and kept going forward without stopping,' Asanoyama told Nikkan Sports, calling the bout 'the opposite of what I imagined' after expecting low throws, though 'I could see him, and my body moved.'
In a separate Nikkan Sports report, Hakkaku rijicho (former yokozuna Hokutoumi) praised Asanoyama's flexibility: 'The softness is different... because he's flexible, the power doesn't get through.' Sports Hochi says it was Aonishiki's first opening-day loss in seven basho, since last year's Aki against Onosato; Aonishiki said, 'Losing isn't new to me, so I'll switch gears and try to take good sumo from tomorrow.' Chunichi Sports quoted NHK analyst Kotokaze saying he could not remember Aonishiki taking such a complete loss against anyone but Onosato.
ABEMA commentator Hanada Takanori, the former yokozuna Wakanohana, said Aonishiki attacked entirely from the outside and 'did the worst thing,' that his left hand came too late because Asanoyama was half a step quicker, and that it was the same sumo he showed on the final day of the last basho, which will not beat Asanoyama. Hanada named it the 'bout of the day' and praised Asanoyama's low hips, saying they let him keep moving forward.
Sources: Yahoo! Japan Sports · Yahoo! Japan Sports (THE ANSWER)