The Japan Sumo Association in the wake of a bout fixing scandal has decided to hold a free tournament in May instead of the normally scheduled summer tourney.
The tournament is being called a skill test that will be used to assign rankings to wrestlers for the next grand sumo tournament.
The board of the association made the decision on Wednesday.
The association acknowledged last week that 23 wrestlers and stable masters were involved in match fixing and asked them retire or resign. By Wednesday 21 wrestlers retired and one stablemaster resigned. Another stablemaster who declined the request to resign was dismissed.
The board meeting agreed not to hold the regular summer tournament, instead opting to admit spectators free of charge. It said that scandal investigation was not completely finished and that measures to prevent match-fixing are not yet in place.
But, it decided to hold the tournament as a 15-day meet starting on May 8th in Tokyo to assess each wrestler's skills to compile rankings to be used in the next tournament. The results of the bouts in May will be officially recorded.
The ring-entering ceremony and the ritual bow ceremony will be held as usual. The tournament winner and winners of 3 special prizes will also be commended.
But, the association will decline the Emperor's Cup for the tourney winner and there will be no prize money for bout winners. The sumo association will start discussion on concrete ways to allow fans to see the tournament without charge.
The organization cancelled the previous tournament scheduled for Osaka in March because of the match-fixing scandal.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011 19:29 +0900 (JST)
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