TOKYO (AP) — Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki has change into the primary from his nation to win an elite-level sumo championship.
Much more spectacular: he defeated Hoshoryu on Sunday within the deciding match within the Kyushu event in western Japan.
Hoshoryu was born in Mongolia and is among the top-ranked wrestlers in Japan’s nationwide sport.
The opposite is Japan-born Onosato.
Born Danilo Yavhushyshyn, he left Ukraine greater than 3 1/2 years in the past simply after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of his nation.
He’s solely 21, has risen in a short time and wrestles underneath the ring title of Aonishiki Arata.
Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in several intervals in Japan.
They’ve included Mongolians, Hawaiians and now a Ukrainian.
Aonishiki stated he got here to Japan after hanging up a friendship with a Japanese wrestler at a event in 2019.
Ukraine has a really robust custom in Olympic wrestling.
Its final gold-medal winner was Zhan Beleniuk within the Greco-Roman class on the Tokyo Video games, which have been delayed till 2021 by the pandemic.
