Day 7: Fujiseiun Lifts Aonishiki and Throws Him for a Yokozuna, Ozeki and Sekiwake This Basho: 'I'm Here Too'
West Maegashira 2 Fujiseiun, 28 (Fujishima), beat ozeki Aonishiki, 22 (Ajigawa), by uwatenage in their first makuuchi meeting to go 4-3; Aonishiki fell to 4-3 (Jiji Press, Sponichi). Usually a right-hand-inside man, Fujiseiun jammed his left in at the tachi-ai against an ozeki who is strongest with a left mawashi grip, raised him up and drove forward, then took the right uwate and threw him at the edge. 'I stayed calm right to the edge,' he said, and slapped his mawashi once afterward (Mainichi Shimbun, Chunichi Sports). He had never trained with Aonishiki: 'I checked the feel with my tsukebito. It's a win I got together with my tsukebito' (Sports Hochi).
After his first kinboshi against Hoshoryu on Day 5, he has now beaten a yokozuna, an ozeki and a sekiwake this basho (Nikkan Sports). He admits his first reaction to younger stablemate Fujiryoga's Day 3 kinboshi was frustration: 'Everyone's only paying attention to Fujiryoga. I'm wrestling with the feeling that I'm here too... Without him I wouldn't have come this far' (Sports Hochi, Jiji Press). From Kumamoto, he joined after Meiji University and a stint in the working world, fell from juryo to sandanme with a major knee injury, and is at a career-high rank in his first Kyushu basho in makuuchi: 'I used to stiffen up under the cheering. Now I can turn it into strength' (Jiji Press, Mainichi Shimbun).
Hakkaku: 'He attacked as he went rather than grabbing the uwate right away. His way of driving forward is good... The pressure is there now' (Nikkan Sports). Judging chief Asakayama: 'He didn't flinch at the tachi-ai and attacked without a pause' (Mainichi Shimbun). Sakaigawa on NHK: 'He stood up Aonishiki, who never gets stood up. Bravo,' adding that for Aonishiki, 'whether this becomes a big loss is on a knife edge, but there's still half to go' (Chunichi Sports). Aonishiki: 'I have to attack myself' (Mainichi Shimbun). In his Sponichi column, Tamanoi (ex-ozeki Tochiazuma) called it Fujiseiun's best sumo, beating the low-stanced ozeki at his own game. Ukraine's Sport.ua, quoted by Tokyo Sports, wrote that 'of course this does not mean Aonishiki's title chances are gone.'
Sources: Yahoo! Japan Sports (Jiji Press) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Mainichi Shimbun) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Sports Hochi) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Nikkan Sports) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Sponichi / Tamanoi) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Chunichi Sports) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Tokyo Sports / Ukraine) · Yahoo! Japan Sports (Jiji Press photo)