One of the more exciting rikishi of 2023 has been Hakuoho, a high school and corporate sumo champion, recruited into professional sumo by Miyagino stablemaster (former yokozuna Hakuho).
In July, the 19-year-old rookie sensation came within a whisker of being the first top-division debutant in 109 years to claim the Emperor¡¯s Cup.
Hakuoho¡¯s performance in Nagoya was one for the ages, and made even more remarkable by the fact that the Tottori native had taken part in his first-ever professional sumo bout just seven months earlier.
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