Mongolian ozeki Hakuho's 8-7 record at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament concluded the previous day was an "embarrassment," an official from the Japan Sumo Association Yokozuna Deliberation Council said Monday.
Yoshio Ishibashi, who heads the committee in charge of considering promotions to sumo's ultimate rank said, "He might have been suffering from a right knee injury, but a mark of 8-7 is an embarrassment.
We would like him to recover quickly, win two consecutive titles and hope that he can gain promotion to yokozuna after the New Year meet in January next year." Hakuho, who will start with a clean slate in his bid for promotion, will require three weeks of treatment for his injured right knee, sumo officials said.
He suffered the injury when he lost to komusubi Kisenosato on the opening day of the tournament. Mongolian grand champion Asashoryu won his 18th career title with a 13-2 record at the 15-day Tokyo meet.