Baruto admitted Monday his successful ozeki promotion bid has left him shattered but the Estonian former nightclub bouncer says he was able to take advantage of a thumb injury to score a personal-best 14-1 record at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
"The result is the best and I'm absolutely exhausted," Baruto told a news conference a day after the 15-day meet wrapped up at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
The Baltic behemoth often favors a forklift truck-style "tsuridashi" maneuver to lift up his opponents by their "mawashi" belts and plop them over the straw bales.