The Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament started under a cloud, with three Russian wrestlers freshly kicked out of the sport for drug use, but by the final bouts on Sunday sumo was enjoying clearer skies. With Musashigawa — former yokozuna Mienoumi — at the helm of the sport, the future looks brighter.
On the opening day of the tournament, the new chairman of the Sumo Association stood atop the dohyo for the first time, faced the fans and the massed ranks of television cameras, and pledged to improve the inner and outer workings of the nation's de-facto national sport.
One of the earliest effects of the leadership change was on show daily. Referees and ringside judges began cracking down on matta (false starts). The sloppy tachiai have been slipping into the sport over the past few years, but they slowly made way for the proper two-hands-down version demanded by the sport's rules and, as a result, the number of sidestepping, slap-down victories took a nosedive.
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