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Ozeki Fired in Gambling Clampdown
Sumo | July 04, 2010

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Tokyo. Sumo champion Kotomitsuki was booted out of Japan’s ancient sport on Sunday as part of a clampdown on illegal baseball gambling.

The Japan Sumo Association decided to fire the 34-year-old ozeki , the second-highest ranking in the sport, after a probe into a gambling racket with alleged links to Japanese crime syndicates.

Kotomitsuki is the first ozeki to suffer the humiliation of being fired. Gym boss Otake will also be shown the door for his involvement in the betting racket.

Last month a former wrestler was arrested on suspicion of extorting 3.5 million yen ($40,000) from Kotomitsuki in the latest setback for the sport.

Kotomitsuki alleged it was “hush money,” and the furor has even prompted the JSA to consider pulling the plug on the grand sumo tournament in Nagoya that begins next Sunday.

More than 60 wrestlers have confessed to gambling. Japan’s NHK channel is expected to make a decision on whether to scrap its coverage of the Nagoya event.

Sumo’s image has taken a battering in recent years after damaging assault, drug and alcohol scandals. Last year, a former gym boss was sentenced to six years in prison after the death of a 17-year-old trainee wrestler.

Three wrestlers received suspended jail terms after being found guilty of beating the trainee, who died from his injuries.

A number of wrestlers, foreign and Japanese, have been kicked out of the sport after being caught in possession of marijuana.

The sport’s biggest name, Mongolian Asashoryu, retired this year after accusations that he had broken a man’s nose while in a drunken rage outside a Tokyo nightclub.


Reuters