It wasn't sexy but yokozuna Asashoryu stayed on course in his bid for consecutive titles with a bread-and-butter win over Takekaze on the third day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday.
The feisty yokozuna from Ulan Bator was pulled slightly off-balance by Takekaze after the faceoff and almost went tumbling before recovering quickly to charge the winless No. 1 maegashira over the edge at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center.
Rival yokozuna Hakuho also remained perfect with a 3-0 record by grinding out Aminishiki in the day's penultimate bout. The two Mongolian yokozuna feature among a group of five wrestlers sharing the lead as the 15-day meet heats up.
Asashoryu is seeking his 25th career title after beating Hakuho in a playoff on the final day of the autumn meet. Hakuho can surpass Asashoryu's record of 84 wins in a year with 14 victories here.