Day 6: Wakatakakage Slaps Down Hitoshi in About Three Seconds to Go 6-0 in Juryo
Ex-sekiwake Wakatakakage (Arashio), at West Juryo 5 in his return basho, slapped down West Juryo 7 Hitoshi (Oitekaze) with a tsukiotoshi on Day 6 to stay perfect at 6-0; Hitoshi is 1-3-2. After a false start by Hitoshi, Wakatakakage stayed calm; on the second tachi-ai Hitoshi jumped wide to the left, but Wakatakakage kept low, read it, and slapped him down in about three seconds (ABEMA TIMES). 'I think I reacted well,' he said. Sports Hochi says he has a trainer come from Tokyo to treat him, and that after winning the makuuchi title in May he developed compartment syndrome in his left thigh before the Nagoya basho and had emergency surgery; after rehab he decided to compete after talking it over with stablemaster Arashio (ex-maegashira Sokokurai). 'I just want to concentrate on my own sumo.' Fans wrote 'Too strong,' 'Next level,' 'Is this really after surgery?' and 'If anyone gives Wakatakakage a good fight, you'll know they're makuuchi caliber' (ABEMA TIMES, THE ANSWER).
Sources: Yahoo! Japan Sports (Sports Hochi) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (ABEMA TIMES) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (THE ANSWER)