Sumo: Minister orders investigation into Asashoryu assault allegations+

TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo -
Sports minister Tatsuo Kawabata has ordered the Japan Sumo Association to
launch a full investigation into allegations that Mongolian grand champion
Asashoryu seriously assaulted a man after a recent late night drinking session
in Tokyo.

''Recently there have been punishments meted out by the Japan Sumo Association
because of distressing incidents involving violent behavior. If this (report
concerning Asashoryu) is true then it is deplorable,'' Kawabata said Friday.
''The (sumo) association carries responsibility for Japan's national sport and
this must be dealt with appropriately,'' Kawabata said, adding he was surprised
that the alleged incident had taken place during the recently concluded New
Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
''I am surprised. This is regrettable behavior given the responsibility a
yokozuna has.''
This latest incident looks set to further tarnish the image of a sport rocked
to its core last year by drug offenses, a death threat and a six-year prison
term meted out to a stablemaster over physical abuse leading to the death of a
17-year-old wrestler.
Asashoryu, 29, was reported by weekly magazine Friday last week to have been
''wasted'' before slugging an acquaintance, who was originally believed to have
been his manager, outside a pub in downtown Nishiazabu in the early hours of
Jan. 16.
However, weekly magazine Shukan Shincho reported in its edition which hit
newsstands Thursday that the actual man attacked in the incident was in charge
of a dance club where the yokozuna had been drinking.
The man, whose injuries reportedly included a broken nose, lacerations of the
lip and bruises to the back of his head, apparently went to police on Monday, a
day after the New Year meet wrapped up, to discuss the incident.
The JSA said Thursday it will be demanding an explanation from Asashoryu in the
wake of the latest allegations.
The reports marred Asashoryu's 25th career Emperor's Cup win at the New Year
meet, which put him in sole possession of third on the all-time list for the
most title victories in sumo history.
Sumo's self-styled enfant terrible, Asashoryu is no stranger to controversy and
his frequent breaches of protocol have led to an increasingly strained
relationship with the sumo establishment.
He faced the firing squad in 2007, receiving a two-tournament ban which sparked
a bout of depression after it was revealed that he had played hooky from a
summer regional tour by feigning the degree of his injuries while later taking
part in a soccer match in his native Mongolia.
Asashoryu has also been censured by the JSA for playing golf with other
Mongolian wrestlers, including rival yokozuna Hakuho, immediately before last
year's summer meet.
In a 2003 bout he was disqualified for yanking the hair of compatriot
Kyokushuzan, a no-no in sumo. He picked a fight with Kyokushuzan in the locker
room afterward and was later accused of smashing the wing mirror of the same
wrestler's car.
==Kyodo
2010-01-29 23:33:24


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