Sumo: Grand champions Onosato, Hoshoryu open Nagoya meet with wins
The 25-year-old Onosato, the first Japanese-born yokozuna since the January 2019 retirement of his stablemaster, the former Kisenosato, comfortably took care of new Mongolian komusubi Oshoma in the day's penultimate bout.
Hoshoryu then brought the opening day to a close by toppling veteran former ozeki Takayasu, winner of 10 of their 12 head-to-head battles coming into the 15-day tournament.
Onosato received a huge ovation inside the newly opened venue before blasting Oshoma to the edge and claiming their first career meeting by force out.
The Ishikawa Prefecture native is aiming for his third straight Emperor's Cup and fifth overall after clinching promotion to the top rank with back-to-back titles in March and May.
Hoshoryu fought decisively to improve his ledger against the 35-year-old Takayasu, currently fighting as a komusubi. The 26-year-old yokozuna exploded out of the blocks and delivered a powerful shove to the throat as he upended his opponent with an outside leg trip.
The nephew of Mongolian former yokozuna Asashoryu is aiming for his third top-division title and first since earning promotion to grand champion with victory at the New Year tournament.
Exciting young Ukrainian No. 1 maegashira Aonishiki sprang the biggest upset of the day by defeating ozeki Kotozakura with a seldom-seen winning technique.
The 21-year-old European, gunning for his first promotion to the three "sanyaku" ranks below yokozuna, executed an "uchimuso" inner thigh propping twist down after the combatants came to a clinch in the middle of the dohyo.
"I wanted to stay low and go forward," Aonishiki said. "I want to make everyone happy watching my sumo."
Wakatakakage, back at sekiwake for the first time since March 2023, forced out No. 2 maegashira Oho. Fellow sekiwake Kirishima, meanwhile, forced out No. 1 maegashira Wakamotoharu, Wakatakakage's older brother.
Sekiwake Daieisho missed the start of the tournament with a right calf injury, while his Oitekaze stablemate, No. 7 maegashira Endo, will not compete in Nagoya after undergoing right knee surgery Thursday.
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