Ukrainian Aonishiki Arata won the Emperor’s Cup

Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki Arata (real name – Danylo Yavgusyshyn) won the first Emperor’s Cup in his career – one of the six annual grand tournaments in professional sumo, which ended today, November 23, in Fukuoka (Japan). Before Yavgusyshyn, our compatriots had never had such achievements in this sport.

Before the final day of competition, three wrestlers had an equal number of victories – 11 each: yokozuna Daiki Onosato and Tomokatsu Hosoryu, as well as sekiwaki (third rank) Aonishiki Arata. Onosato and Hosoryu met each other and, accordingly, one of them won the 12th victory. Khosyoryu became the winner.

And Yavgusyshyn defeated ozeki Masakatsu Kotozakura (real name – Masakatsu Komatani) a little earlier, who finished the tournament with eight victories.

So at the end of the Kyūshū basho, the two best wrestlers each had 12 wins. The fate of the Emperor’s Cup was decided by a playoff match between Aonishiki and Hosoryu. Danylo won against the Mongolian yokozuna in three previous fights, including defeating him once at the Kyūshū basho. Yavgusyshyn continued this series at the most crucial moment. The 21-year-old from Vinnytsia won, won the rank of ozeki and the Emperor’s Cup! Our wrestler achieved this title in only 14 tournaments of the highest rank of Makuuchi.

Another of our sumo wrestlers, maegashira #11 Shishi Masaru (real name – Serhiy Sokolovskyi) finished Kyūshū basho with six victories. On the final day of competition, he defeated Chikira Maisei.