NAGOYA - Grand champion Onosato crashed to 1-3 at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday as he was pushed out by previously winless No. 2 maegashira Gonoyama.
A day after snapping his 0-2 losing streak to start the meet at IG Arena, the injury-affected yokozuna looked far below his dominant best as he succumbed to an opponent who had beaten him only once in their seven past meetings.
The five-time Emperor's Cup winner now looks in danger of withdrawing from a third straight grand tournament after pulling out of the past two while dealing with debilitating shoulder pain.
As he was driven to the edge, Onosato desperately jumped to stay inside while slapping Gonoyama (1-3) to the clay. The referee initially signaled the win for the yokozuna, but a conference of the ringside officials resulted in a reversal of the decision.
"I wasn't sure if I won or not, because of the officials' discussion, but I'm happy with the result," said Gonoyama, who earned his first "kinboshi" award for defeating a yokozuna as a rank-and-file wrestler.
Fellow yokozuna Hoshoryu bounced back from his first loss by thrusting down No. 2 maegashira Churanoumi and improving to 3-1 on Day 4 of the 15-day competition.
Hoshoryu, who also pulled out of the May tournament after injuring his hamstring, kept Churanoumi (1-3) away from his belt before sending the Okinawa native hurtling to the clay.
Ozeki Kirishima had to work hard to keep his record spotless at 4-0, ceding ground to a powerful initial charge from No. 1 maegashira Takanosho (0-4) before shoving the former sekiwake over the edge.
Demotion-threatened "kadoban" ozeki Kotozakura (3-1) moved one win closer to the eight needed to keep his rank by slapping down dangerous 21-year-old No. 1 maegashira Fujinokawa (2-2), who was coming off back-to-back victories over the grand champions.
New komusubi Yoshinofuji (2-2) handed sekiwake Aonishiki (3-1) his first defeat of the tournament, showing impressive upper-body strength to topple the former ozeki with an overarm throw after being driven to the edge from behind.
Ukrainian star Aonishiki needs 10 wins to earn automatic re-promotion to ozeki after being demoted on the back of two consecutive losing records while dealing with foot and ankle injuries. He sat out the entire May tournament after posting his first losing record at 7-8 in March.
Sekiwake Atamifuji and Kotoshoho both dropped to 3-1, taking their first losses of the tournament to lower ranked opponents.
Atamifuji appeared to have No. 4 maegashira Daieisho (3-1) on the ropes before being thrust down at the edge, while Kotoshoho was pushed out by komusubi Oho (1-3), who opened his account after three straight losses.
