On the penultimate day of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament,
ozeki Harumafuji of Mongolia conquered his demons with a mouthwatering victory
over compatriot yokozuna Hakuho, capturing his second career title on Saturday.
Harumafuji  improved to an unassailable
14-0 record, while Hakuho dropped to his second defeat and failed in his bid to
win an unprecedented eighth consecutive title.

In the day”s finale, Harumafuji got a razor-sharp jump at
the face-off to get his left hand on Hakuho”s mawashi and held on for dear life
before reaching deep into his energy reserves to send the grand champion
backpedaling out at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.

“I feel great. I really wrestled the sumo of my life. I
had to use all my power,” said Harumafuji, who won his first title since
beating Hakuho in a playoff at the 2009 summer basho. “I”ve had many
troubles and injuries since becoming ozeki but I kept training and got support
from a lot of people.”

Hakuho had been on track to surpass his record streak of
seven successive titles he holds with former yokozuna Asashoryu. But the
yokozuna appears to have lost some of his zeal after being the poster boy for
sumo for so long.

The Nagoya basho was the first regular tournament in six
months following a match-fixing scandal that broke in February that shook
Japan”s ancient, revered sport to its very core.