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发表于 2011-2-4 20:56:37
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VOX POPULI: Bout-fixing casts a stench on world of sumo
2011/02/04
Last fall, when yokozuna Hakuho was in the middle of his winning streak, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun ran the following comment by stablemaster Tamanoi (former ozeki Tochiazuma), "With his aggressive wrestling, Asashoryu sometimes lost bouts as if he met an accident, but Hakuho is winning by properly following 'traffic rules.'"
I was impressed with the apt comparison as one might expect from a powerful wrestler who scored 10 wins from Asashoryu and five from Hakuho while in the makuuchi division.
"Accidents" happen and "rules" are all the more meaningful because the wrestlers are playing seriously. Or so fans thought as they watched the sport in suspense, reacting with joy and disappointment at each bout.
Text messages indicating match-fixing were found on the cellphones of wrestlers that police confiscated during their investigation into wrestlers' gambling on professional baseball games.
This is folly that derides all rooting and commentaries on sumo. In addition to borrowing and lending and selling and buying wins, the wrestlers apparently agreed on tactics for winning or losing bouts.
As far as match-fixing is concerned, a former wrestler has testified that it is going on and a weekly magazine has repeatedly ran stories about it. Each time, the Japan Sumo Association denied the allegations and had a court rule in its favor and was awarded a huge amount of compensation.
Also in Wednesday's news conference, Hanaregoma, chairman of the sumo association, unnaturally stressed that it has never happened in the past. However, if a large number of wrestlers were in fact involved, I would have no choice but to believe that the practice has been going on on a regular basis.
Match-fixing is more sinful than gambling and drunken brawling because people involved in it are loafing on their jobs. In addition to outrageous behavior, it is as though a serious, chronic illness has come to light. And the illness has to do with the essence of sports.
There must be many fans who are saddened and feel lethargic as they replay exciting bouts in slow motion in their minds.
No sport would stand when there are a different set of rules from the real ones. When wills other than the desire "to win" enter the dohyo, sumo as a professional sport dies.
I want to believe that most sumo wrestlers are shaking with anger and not with fear over the revelations.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 3 |
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