JAPAN: SUMO WRESTLING - The head of Japan's sumo association resigns over scanals including marijuana

Record ID: 462921

  • Title: JAPAN: SUMO WRESTLING - The head of Japan's sumo association resigns over scanals including marijuana
  • Date: 9th September 2008
  • Summary: (S3) TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE APRIL 2008) (REUTERS) THOUSANDS OF FANS AT PACKED SUMO RING AT YASUKUNI SHRINE ROHO ON A SUMO RING ROHO (LEFT) FIGHTING AGAINST GEORGIAN SUMO WRESTLER KOKKAI (RIGHT) ROHO THROWING KOKKAI TO THE GROUND
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA966GUJCBN76YUG9QF0ODTQSW1
  • Story Text: The head of Japan's sumo association resigned on Monday in the wake of a string of scandals to hit the ancient sport, including suspicions that wrestlers had smoked marijuana.
    Two Russian wrestlers tested positive for marijuana last week, setting off a media frenzy about the sport, which historians say dates back 2,000 years.
    Roho and Hakurozan, who are brothers, denied smoking the drug, but the tests came shortly after another Russian wrestler was arrested and fired for suspected marijuana possession.

    "I caused trouble to the sumo association and to fans, so I have resigned," Kitanoumi, chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, told a news conference after a meeting of the sport's top officials.
    Both Roho and Hakurozan have been expelled from the sport, an official said.
    Kitanoumi, a sumo great in the 1970s and head of the gym where Hakurozan trains, faced growing speculation that he would step down to take responsibility for the latest problems and other recent scandals that have dented the sport's popularity.
    Last year, the head of a training gym was arrested on suspicion of assault leading to the death of a teenage trainee who had talked about quitting.
    The incident put a spotlight on the harsh training practices and the closed, rigid society of the male-only sport, in which burly wrestlers wearing only loincloths tussle in a rope-lined ring.
    Also last year, one of the sport's highest-ranked stars, Asashoryu, sparked an uproar when he was filmed playing in a charity soccer match in his native Mongolia after pulling out of a tour in Japan citing a back injury.
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