Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki nears the pinnacle of Japan’s national sport

Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki celebrates his promotion to the rank of ozeki in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture, yesterday

Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki is only 21 but has moved just one step from the top rank of Japan’s national sport.

In an elaborate ceremony yesterday, he was promoted by the Japan Sumo Association to the rank of ozeki, the rung just below the top.

Only two now hold the top rank of yokozuna — grand champion in English: Japanese Onosato and Mongolia-born Hoshoryu.

“I’m happy but I feel more strongly about working harder from now on,” Aonishiki said after the ceremony. “There is a higher rank, and that’s my next goal.”

Sumo’s new rising star, who wrestles under the ring name of Aonishiki Arata, was born Danilo Yavhushyshyn in west central Ukraine and has identified his hometown as Vinnytsia.

He moved to Japan after Russia invaded Ukraine just over 3 1/2 years ago, the byproduct of a friendship he had made a few years earlier with a Japanese wrestler at a tournament.

Japanese media identifies him as being the quickest — he’s wrestled only 14 tournaments — to reach the ozeki rank since 1958 when the present tournament scheduling system was installed.

The promotion was inevitable after he won a prestigious tournament on Sunday in western Japan. He defeated Hoshoryu in the deciding match.

He explained earlier that his parents fled to Germany after the invasion and said they are living safely. He said he called them after the big tournament on Sunday and praised them for allowing him to pursue his interests. He said his mother cried on the phone call. He was told his father did too, but tried to hide it.

“They never scolded me even when I didn’t do well in studies, as they believed in letting me do what I liked to do,” he said.

Aonishiki is small by sumo standards. He weighs in the 125 to 135 kilogram range — (between 275 to 300 pounds). This is slight in sumo — in the range of an NFL lineman — since many wrestlers weigh at least 150-kilograms (330 pounds) and some much more.

Sumo experts in Japan say his success comes from keeping a low body position. He can bench press 210 kilograms (460 pounds) — about 50% more than his body weight.

“I need to be stronger all around,” he said yesterday. “I have to be bigger, and I still need to learn a lot more about sumo.”

Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in different periods in Japan. They have included Mongolians, Hawaiians and now Ukrainians. A second Ukrainian, Shishi Masaru, is also a highly-ranked wrestler in Japan.

Ukraine has a very strong tradition in Olympic wrestling. Its last gold-medal winner was Zhan Beleniuk in the Greco-Roman category at the Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021 by the pandemic.

Aonishiki has endeared himself to the Japanese public with his fluent command of their language. He said he arrived speaking no Japanese, but picked it up quickly living only with Japanese wrestlers in the sport’s tightly controlled environment. STEPHEN WADE, TOKYO, MDT/AP