Japan's decade-long wait for sumo champion comes to an end

[Scrambler]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/24/japan-born-sumo-wrestler-kotoshogiku-first-in-10-years-to-win-tournament

This is pretty epic. I would equivilate this to a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in umpteen years.

Truly amazing, an underdog win that no one anywhere saw coming. This ended a 10 year drought as Kotoshogiku becomes the first homegrown Japanese wrestler to claim an Emperor’s Cup since retired ozeki Tochiazuma won this tournament in 2006.

Kotoshogiku is from Fukuoka, he was one of the main reasons why I found the awesome city where I live now. Since I became a Sumo fan in 2012 he was the first guy I started cheering for.

The momentum towards winning this tourney started when Kotoshogiku beat arguably the most dominant Yokozuna of all time, Hakuho:

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Was very emotional on Sunday when he won:

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[Locke]

So, pardon my ignorance regarding this fascinating and under-represented sport, but I assumed that pretty much all of the competitors were Japanese.

Who was winning all this time?

[Da_Chief]

^ I'm going to guess the Ethiopians, they win everything.

[nik-]

Hawaiians and Mongolians

[I_H8_Crawford]

Hawaiians and Mongolians

Damn Mongorians!

[Scrambler]

Yes, the Mongolians have been monsters since around 2005. 4 Yokozuna all from Mongolia 1 Ozeki and 1 rank and filer (Maegashira) also from Mongolia have 98% of the championships in the last 10 years. The other 2% is one Bulgarian and one Estonian.