46-Year-Old Ex-Juryo Dairaido Goes 2-0 After His Aunt's Home Was Destroyed in the Kumamoto Quake
Former juryo man Dairaido, 46 (Takadagawa), East Jonidan 29, pushed out Kirinohana, 21 (Arashio), on Day 4 to go 2-0, Daily Sports reports. He was nearly pushed off balance at the edge but held on. 'That was close. I somehow stayed in,' said the Fukuoka native, who drew big applause for winning a matchup 25 years apart in age. His 80-year-old father had called the day before to warn, 'Your opponent is thin, so he might sidestep.' 'At this age I'm getting advice from my father. I'm always making them worry,' he said; his mother broke a bone and was hospitalized just before last year's Kyushu basho but is walking again.
He has been out of the sekitori ranks since July 2006 and has been reworking his tachi-ai this year. His aunt's house in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto was destroyed in the July Kumamoto earthquake and she is living in an evacuation shelter. 'It was a house I played in as a kid, so it was a shock,' he said. 'I want to show her sumo where I give everything.'