Day 6: Yoshinofuji Finally Beats Kotozakura at the Seventh Try, Now Has a Yokozuna and Two Ozeki; Hoshoryu Next
Komusubi Yoshinofuji, 25 (Isegahama), beat Ozeki Kotozakura, 28 (Sadogatake), by uwatenage on Day 6 for his first win in seven meetings; he had lost to him in each of the previous six basho. Kotozakura got his right arm in, swung him around and drove him to the edge, but at the straw the two traded throws and Yoshinofuji's won out. 'I thought I'd force it,' he said (Sports Hochi). Yoshinofuji is 4-2 and Kotozakura, who had been 4-1, has two losses (Kyodo News).
'I pictured hitting a bit lower,' Yoshinofuji said. 'Not rushing the attack, just hitting solidly at the tachi-ai.' His stablemaster Isegahama (ex-yokozuna Terunofuji) gave no special advice but always tells him to 'always stay low.' 'I'm happy, but it's mid-basho, so I can't relax.' On Day 7 he meets Hoshoryu, against whom he is 2-2: 'It's a yokozuna bout tomorrow, so I'll go all out' (Nikkan Sports). Sports Hochi notes that he beat Onosato on opening day, and that the Kumamoto native is again thrilling the Fukuoka crowd.
In his Sponichi column, Tamanoi oyakata (ex-ozeki Tochiazuma) said Yoshinofuji, probably aiming for a double-inside grip, was quick to get his right arm in and take the left uwate; in a throwing exchange, the uwate beats the shitate, and his natural flexibility paid off at the edge. After going 6-9 as a new sanyaku in Nagoya, 'he is wrestling in a way that makes you feel he is steadily gaining real strength.' As for Kotozakura, he might not have been thrown so easily had he driven toward his inside-arm side after switching positions, but he judged it the decisive moment and went for it; it was not a bad bout, and he lost while attacking, so it shouldn't linger. NHK's Minatogawa agreed: 'It wasn't that the ozeki was bad, it was that Yoshinofuji was good' (THE ANSWER).
Sources: Yahoo! Japan Sports (Nikkan Sports) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Sports Hochi) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Sponichi / Tamanoi) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (THE ANSWER) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Kyodo News)