Following an opening day of upsets, big names continued to fall at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday.
Lone yokozuna Terunofuji and ozeki Hoshoryu opened their accounts, but three ozeki and a sekiwake were among the losers on Day 2 at Edion Arena Osaka.
Terunofuji bounced back from his opening loss to komusubi Nishikigi by taking care of No. 1 maegashira Ura (1-1). The Mongolian-born yokozuna locked the Osaka-born crowd favorite by his arm before shoving him off the ring.
Hoshoryu, meanwhile, was strong out of the blocks as he used an inside position to force out Nishikigi.
Newly promoted Kotonowaka suffered his first loss as an ozeki against No. 1 maegashira Asanoyama, who pushed his way to a decisive win despite being unable to secure his desired grip at the jump.
“The ozeki has very good technique, so I just wanted to take advantage early and I was able to do that,” former ozeki Asanoyama (1-1) said.
After falling short in his yokozuna promotion bid in January, ozeki Kirishima remains winless at the 15-day tournament in Osaka. The Mongolian-born grappler was pushed out by rising star Atamifuji, who is fighting as a No. 2 after going 6-9 at the New Year meet.
“I just wanted to go forward, apply the pressure and do my style of sumo,” the 21-year-old Atamifuji said. “The last tournament was gut-wrenching for me. I hope to do much better this time.”
Ozeki Takakeisho (1-1) came off second best against komusubi Abi (2-0) in a pushing and thrusting battle that culminated with the lower-ranked wrestler pulling off an overarm throw.
Sekiwake Wakamotoharu (2-0) crushed out No. 2 Meisei (1-1), but sekiwake Daieisho remained winless courtesy of a frontal thrust out by No. 3 Oho (1-1).