Yokozuna Hakuho beat Tochinoshin to extend his unbeaten streak to 26 bouts, while veteran ozeki Kaio rolled back the years with a vintage performance to score a record-equaling 807th makuuchi-division win at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday.
Hakuho's chief rival Asashoryu made it two wins out of two but Chiyotaikai's hopes of delaying retirement took another turn for the worse as the former ozeki was sent sprawling to a second straight defeat.
Chasing his 13th title, Hakuho was all business in the day's penultimate bout at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, breaking up a mid-ring stalemate and getting both hands on Tochinoshin's (0-2) belt to force the top-ranked Georgian over the straw bales.