Last month the sumo association, while supposedly seeing 2012 as the year to move forward and clear their sullied name, took a massive step backward.
During the most recent reshuffle of bigwigs running the game, former chairman Kitanoumi was re-elected Rijicho. Under the latter part of his leadership that ended in 2008, the sport saw scandal after scandal push it daily into the headlines of sports newspapers and gossip like quasi-news shows.
Exactly why this bewildering re-election took place is still being debated and is likely down to nobody else wanting the job after both former Musashigawa (ex-yokozuna Mienoumi) and Hanaregoma (ex-ozeki Kaiketsu) were ousted in relatively quick succession.
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