Hōshōryū Tomokatsu
Personal information
BornByambasuren Sukhragchaa
(1992-05-22) May 22, 1992 (age 31)
Mongolia, Ulan Bator
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight107 kg (236 lb)*
Career
StableTatsunami
Current ranksee below
DebutNovember, 2017
Highest rankMaegashira 16 (Sept, 2020)
ChampionshipsJonidan (1)
* Up to date as of Aug 31, 2020.

Hōshōryū Tomokatsu (豊昇龍 智勝) is a professional sumo wrestler from Mongolia and wrestles for Tatsunami stable. He is known for his throwing skills, even when measured among Mongolian sumo wrestlers, who tend to use throws more than average reflecting the skills used in Bökh. He is the nephew of former yokozuna Asashōryū.

Early life and sumo background edit

Born as the second son of former Asashōryū's brother, Sukhragchaa started wrestling at 11 years old. Upon graduation from middle school, he was scouted from Mongolia, and moved to Japan to attend Nippon Sport Science University Kashiwa High School. In his first year, as part of a school trip, he visited the Kokugikan in Ryōgoku and became interested in sumo. After consulting with his uncle he committed to trying sumo at the high school level. Though he had no previous experience, he quickly started getting good results in amateur sumo tournaments and was seen as having great potential. After high school he joined Tatsunami stable. During this time he emailed regularly with his uncle who gave him such advice as "build on your own strengths" and "don't put on weight quickly or you'll risk injury." [1]

Career edit

Hōshōryū first stepped into the ring professionally in March 2018. In his second tournament, he took the jonidan championship with a perfect 7-0 and was already regularly using throws and leg sweeps to win against his opponents. He only had one losing tournament, called makekoshi in his rise through the lower ranks, which was a 3-4 performance at makushita 2 when he was on the cusp of promotion to the salaried ranks in July 2019. He quickly bounced back the following tournament in September and with a 4-3 winning tournament or kachikoshi he earned jūryō promotion for the November tournament in Fukuoka. His jūryō debut was a makekoshi decided on the last day in a loss to fellow Mongolian Sakigake by overarm throw.[2] Despite this setback he logged two 8-7 tournaments in a row. In the subsequent July 2020 tournament (held in Tokyo instead of the usual Nagoya due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns) he took part in a rare six man playoff, where he defeated Kyokutaisei. This culminated in a three man playoff between three members of the same stable, Tatsunami. This playoff comprised himself, Akua, and Meisei. Bouts between stablemates are only allowed in the case of playoffs where two or more wrestlers end up with the same record, and is a rare occurrence. He was defeated by Meisei who went on to defeat Akua and take the championship. However, his performance was still enough to propel him into the top-tier makuuchi division for the September 2020 tournament.[2]

Career record edit

Hoshoryu Tomokatsu[2]
Year January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
March
Haru basho, Osaka
May
Natsu basho, Tokyo
July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya
September
Aki basho, Tokyo
November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2018 (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #19
6–1
 
West Jonidan #42
7–0
CHAMPION

 
East Sandanme #42
6–1
 
East Makushita #56
4–3
 
East Makushita #49
6–1
 
2019 West Makushita #21
5–2
 
West Makushita #7
4–3
 
West Makushita #4
4–3
 
West Makushita #2
3–4
 
East Makushita #5
4–3
 
West Jūryō #13
7–8
 
2020 East Jūryō #14
8–7
 
West Jūryō #9
8–7
 
East Jūryō #6
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0
East Jūryō #6
10–5–PP
 
West Maegashira #16

 
x
Record given as wins–losses–absencies    Top division champion Top division runner-up Retired Lower divisions Non-participation

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: MakuuchiJūryōMakushitaSandanmeJonidanJonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: YokozunaŌzekiSekiwakeKomusubiMaegashira

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Former Asashoryu's nephew passes sumo health check「I want to be the strongest」". SANSPO.COM. 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  2. ^ a b c "Hoshoryu Tokokatsu Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2020-08-31.


Category:1999 births Category:Living people Category:Mongolian sumo wrestlers