Sumo Fan Magazine

Amateur Sumo – the sport as it should be Mark Buckton Sakai World Sumo Champs – not all about winning Las Vegas Koen Joe Kuroda Our man reports from the fight capital of the world Rikishi of Old Joe Kuroda A look at a rikishi of yesterday with Kotozakura – our man for October Heya Peek John Gunning John’s early morning dash to Azumazeki-beya & report on TKOTU SFM Interview Katrina Watts sits down with SFM’s Mark Buckton to discuss amateur sumo Photo Bonanza SFM’s best yet – Aki Basho/ Las Vegas / Amateur World Champs / Azumazeki-beya visit – seen nowhere else Aki Basho Review Lon Howard Lon gives us his Aki Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results, and his take on the tournament while ‘gem’ of the basho takes a break Lower Division Rikishi Mikko Mattila Mikko Mattila returns to cover lower division ups and downs Kyushu Basho Forecast Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton Pierre predicts the Kyushu Basho banzuke while Mark previews the ones to watch next time out Sumo 101 Barbara Ann Klein Discovers and explains amasumo & ozumo variations Kimarite Focus Mikko Mattila Mikko once again walks us through his chosen kimarite Minusha John McTague John’s unique bimonthly view of news from outside the dohyo Online Gaming Zenjimoto of ‘game fame’ covers some of the very best sumo games around – his own! Kokugi Connections Todd Lambert Todd’s focus on 3 of the most interesting online sumo sites today Fan Debate Is the limit on foreign rikishi fair? See what our debaters had to say SFM Cartoons Benny Loh In the first of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and chuckle at Benny Loh’s offerings Let’s Hear From You What was it that made you a sumo fan? Gernobono tells all Readers’ Letters See what SFM readers had to say since our last issue Sumo Quiz The Quizmaster Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.	that are regarded as top academic institutions almost never achieving success athletically. Tokyo University has had the current sumo club for about 30 years and is run by a Mr. Nitta. When I asked if any former rikishi had entered professional sumo, there was some scratching of heads before one member of the club told me that, as far as he knew, the only person ever to make it to Ozumo from a public university (which Tokyo University is) was Ichinoya, who came from Ryukyu University in Okinawa. Even that was a special case as Ichinoya had to start up the sumo club in the university himself and he had set his mind on becoming a rikishi even before he entered third level education. Fast forward to the word championships in Osaka on Sunday, the 16th of October and I again meet Petr where he is psyching himself up before his first bout. He is still friendly and, as always, gives a cheery hello – but as I mentioned appears quite tense. After he lost to his Bulgarian opponent in the first round, I showed Petr	a picture of the tachiai I had taken on my digital camera. In it you could see that Petr’s hands were high, and with his opponent appearing to have a wrestling background, he was able to come in low and grab the legs for a takedown. When the two faced off the second time, Petr kept his hands low and managed to get both inside, but as he reached for the full double	inside grip, the Bulgarian pivoted around and using his impressive strength, threw Petr down. The day, however, was not all doom and gloom as Petr managed impressive wins over opponents from Finland and New Zealand, driving both out Next Home
		Petr at the World Championships