Well before the Nagoya Basho, the 13th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament occurred on May 18th in San Antonio, Texas, and it was hosted by the Texas sumo king, Tom Zabel. I had been trying to get information about the results, and amateur sumo all-star, Justin Kizzart, was able to provide some information to NorthAmericanSumo.com. This was during the Nagoya basho, however, so I waited until afterwards so the 13th Texas Classic wouldn’t get overshadowed by the excitement of the Kakuryu vs. Hakuho showdown – and what a showdown it was!
Now that the basho is over, I am happy to share information about the event. As noted in the United States Sumo Federation newsletter, the tournament is held during the annual Asian-Pacific Islander Celebration (APIC) Festival, in which sumo is the main attraction among other Asian-Pacific cultural events.
The women’s competition was headlined by Jessica Hopper and Jasmine Jones – two longtime sumo rivals in the state of Texas. If you remember from an earlier article, Jessica bested Jasmine at the 12th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament to become the sumo champion of Texas in a best-of-five series that came down to the final match. This time, however, Jasmine beat Jessica in three straight matches, and she retakes the title of Texas sumo champion. Great work Jasmine!
The men’s heavyweight division had five competitors: Shawn Jackson, Will Robinson, John Horst, Nolan Marcus, and Pedro Trevino. Shawn won the heavyweight division at the 12th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament, in which both Will and John finished behind him. Of course, Shawn was looking to keep crown. . .which he did! Shawn went undefeated for the day, with newcomer Pedro finishing second, and John finishing in third. Great to see the hard work continuing to pay off for Shawn and John, and it is also wonderful to see the newcomer, Pedro, have a wonderful first performance.
The other competitors competed in the non-heavyweight division, which was composed of lightweights and middleweights. These were Jacob DeCastro, Justin Kizzart, Jake Kuipers, and Juan Espinosa. To the surprise of perhaps no one, former World Sumo Championship Team USA representative, Justin, finished in first; however, it was surprising that he did lose one match to the second-place finisher and sumo newcomer, Jake. Jacob ended up in third. Again, it is great to see the new sumo talent with such great outcomes!
The last division was the openweight, which included almost all of the competitors above. During the 12th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament, Cornelius Booker defeated Shawn Jackson to win openweight gold. With Cornelius absent from this event, could Shawn take gold? Or could Justin upset the heavyweight?
After losing only one match to Jake, Shawn won openweight gold! Justin finished in second, whereas John finished in third. Jake was also awarded the fighting spirit award.
Videos of 13th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament
I was also lucky enough for Justin to send some video of the event, which is provided below.
To recap, here were the finishes:
Women’s Division
First Place – Jasmine Jones
Second Place – Jessica Hopper
Men’s Heavyweight
First Place – Shawn Jackson
Second Place – Pedro Trevino
Third Place – John Horst
Men’s Non-Heavyweight
First Place – Justin Kizzart
Second Place – Jake Kuipers
Third Place – Jacob DeCastro
Openweight
First Place – Shawn Jackson
Second Place – Justin Kizzart
Third Place – John Horst
Fighting Spirit Award – Jake Kuipers
Great work to all those involved, and I can’t wait to see the results of the 14th Texas Classic Sumo Tournament!
North American Sumo 
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