SPOILER – I will be continuously updating this page with World Sumo Championship results. Don’t read if you don’t want it spoiled! Also, the stream is low-quality with very little audio. I am trying by best to understand what is going on, but it is difficult at times.
Men’s Team – In the first round, all three men lost to Russia. Robert Fuimaono and Roy Sims put up a good fights, but they were overpowered in the end. Kena Heffernan lost due to a semi-henka. In the repechange (loser’s) bracket, Robert won his match with good, strong sumo. Roy and Kena lost their matches, though. Team USA is out of the men’s team tournament.
Women’s Lightweight – A junior competitor, Ava Chan, is our representative at women’s lightweight. She had a fantastic match, but lost in the first round. She then lost in the repechange bracket, too. Our women’s lightweight competitor is out.
Women’s Heavyweight – Danna Engelberg lost both her matches due to being overpowered by her opponents. Our women’s heavyweight competitor is out.
Men’s Middleweight – Wow! Ed Suczewski just put on the best performance by an American yet. He won in a great first-round match. Strong, avoided the trip. What more can you ask for! In the second round, he took a loss from the Mongolian, Baasandorj. The Mongolian got lower, and was able to push Ed out to his disappointment. In the repechange bracket, Ed won his first match with good, solid sumo again. He almost certainly has the best technique of any American – such a joy to watch. In the second match of the repechange bracket, disaster struck for Ed – a henka. He did an extremely good job to recover, but there wasn’t too much he could do. Ed ends his middleweight medal quest with a 2-2 record. By far the best we’ve seen from the Americans so far.
Men’s Openweight – Robert Fuimaono had a really good try, but the Egyptian competitor overpowered him. I thought he’d get it at the end, but he didn’t.
Women’s Openweight- Mariah Holmes made it to the semi-finals! In her first match, it looked like she easily won, but it was actually a false start. On the rematch, she lost. In her second semi-finals match, she had a long and tough match. I thought she had it at multiple points, but she was overpowered in the end.
Men’s Heavyweight – Roy Sims also advanced to the semi-finals! In his first match, I thought he was able to beat the Japanese competitor, but the judges interjected in the result. They ruled it a loss for Roy. Bummer. . .In Roy’s second match, he had a winning opportunity, but he wasn’t able to push out his giant of an opponent. At that point, his opponent regained his composure and pushed Roy out. Roy was knocked out.
It seems that many of the American matches occurred off-camera, unfortunately. I will try to post results regarding these other matches once I receive them.
North American Sumo 