Sumo great Hakuho plans to promote sport from outside ruling body
KYODO NEWS - 2 hours ago - 14:08 | Sports, All
Former yokozuna Hakuho plans to remain involved with sumo despite severing ties with the sport's ruling body, the winner of a record 45 elite-level tournaments said Monday.
The Mongolian-born ex-wrestler's retirement from the Japan Sumo Association was formalized the same day.
His exit comes little more than a year after the indefinite closure of the Miyagino stable that he had overseen as stablemaster, following revelations that one of his proteges, top-division competitor Hokuseiho, had physically abused younger wrestlers.
At a press conference in Tokyo, the 40-year-old said he wanted to promote sumo from outside the association.
"I want to develop sumo from an outside perspective," he said. "I will focus on projects to spread sumo around the world."
Hakuho, who retired from competition in September 2021, said he agonized about his decision to quit as a sumo elder, considering the potential impact on the wrestlers he had been training.
"I really struggled with it," he said. "My charges were competing in the Summer tournament (in May), so I told them after it finished."
Hakuho was demoted two ranks as an elder to take responsibility for the scandal at the Miyagino stable, whose members transferred to the Isegahama stable.
With the future of the Miyagino stable in limbo, Hakuho had grown increasingly dissatisfied with his treatment by the sumo authorities.
The end of his competitive career was marked by criticism about what was seen as his brash manner in the ring and sometimes overly rough wrestling, prompting the sumo association to make him sign a pledge to abide by its rules before allowing him to become an elder.
Despite his split with the sumo hierarchy, Hakuho will be remembered as an all-time great for a dominant career in which he won 1,187 matches, more than any other wrestler in the sport's long history.
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