4 days ago
Former Yokozuna Hakuho to leave world of sumo
Former Yokozuna Grand Champion Hakuho will leave the world of sumo wrestling, more than a year after his stable was closed due to a scandal involving one of its wrestlers.
The Japan Sumo Association accepted Hakuho's resignation on Monday. He will retire from the sumo governing body on June 9.
Hakuho won a record 45 tournament titles during his career that spanned two decades, and acquired Japanese nationality in 2019.
He retired as a wrestler in 2021, and the following year became the head of the Miyagino Stable. Since then, the Mongolian-born wrestler has been known by the name Miyagino.
But in February 2024, he was demoted by two ranks to the lowest rank of elders over acts of violence by one of his wrestlers.
The stable was closed. The master and wrestlers were transferred to another stable of Isegahama. It is the leading stable of the Isegahama group, which his Miyagino stable belongs to.
He continued training wrestlers as a junior master, but began expressing his intention to leave the association because there was no prospect of reopening his stable.
Sources say he held talks with the association during the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in May, but the two sides failed to find common ground.
He entrusted his letter of resignation to a person in the group and left his fate up to the association.
He is now in Mongolia. Sources say he will return to Japan soon and meet reporters as early as June 9.
