The Japan Sumo Association has accepted recommendations made by a third-party special oversight panel investigating some JSA members' illegal gambling on professional baseball games. Acting on the recommendations, JSA is expected to expel ozeki Kotomitsuki and stablemaster Otake and to take strong disciplinary measures against stablemaster Tokitsukaze.
JSA will also ban seven makuuchi wrestlers, five juryo wrestlers and two maksushita wrestlers from the July Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. Eleven stablemasters also face suspension — including JSA chairman Musashigawa.
The association has barely managed to hold the Nagoya event after accepting conditions laid down by the oversight panel. JSA must realize that the gambling scandal has blotted the history of this traditional sport. Holding the Nagoya event, however, carries the danger of the panel's investigation ending incomplete.