Abi Masatora
Abi Masatora 阿炎 政虎 | |
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Personal information | |
Born |
Horikiri Kōsuke May 4, 1994 Koshigaya city, Saitama Prefecture |
Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in) |
Weight | 144 kg (317 lb) |
Career | |
Stable | Shikoroyama |
Current rank | see below |
Debut | July, 2013 |
Highest rank | Maegashira 2 (May, 2018) |
Championships |
1 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonidan) |
Special Prizes | Fighting Spirit (1) |
Gold Stars |
(2) 1 Hakuhō1 Kakuryū |
* Up to date as of September 23, 2018. |
Abi Masatora (阿炎 政虎, born May 4, 1994 as Kōsuke Horikiri) is a professional sumo wrestler from Saitama Prefecture. He made his debut in May, 2013 and wrestles for Shikoroyama stable. He reached the top makuuchi division in January 2018 and has one special prize for Fighting Spirit. His highest rank has been maegashira 2.
Early life and sumo experience
Kōsuke Horikiri was born as the youngest of four children, born into a family that ran a construction company. He was a head taller than most of his classmates as a student. Unlike other members of his family, he was not inclined towards sports as he was somewhat overweight and didn't like running. He tried judo, but found he excelled more at sumo; taking the children's sumo championship in his city in both his first and second years of primary school. Though he was skilled at sumo, he didn't like the sport at first, especially practice, and would often try to avoid it. As the sumo at the city level was not challenging enough he began participating in national children's sumo tournaments but achieved little success. He did not see sumo in his future but as most of his friends were involved in the sport, he continued. Having a very gregarious nature, he made friends quickly at tournaments, among them being future makuuchi wrestlers Daieishō and Hokutōfuji.[1]
In junior high school Horikiri began to find sumo more appealing, placing well in tournaments. This culminated in taking 3rd place in the national junior high school sumo tournament in Kagoshima. Horikiri recalled being so certain he would be eliminated on the first day, that he brought a swimsuit for swimming in the nearby sea so he would have something to do for the rest of the tournament.
He transferred to Nagareyama High School and joined the sumo club. One of his classmates there was future Daishōhō. He was successful at the high school level, often placing in the best sixteen. In his 3rd year of high school, he placed 3rd in the 61st Towada Sumo Tournament in the individual category, losing to the future san'yaku wrestler Ichinojō.
His family hoped he would go on to university and continue sumo there, but Horikiri instead expressed interest in taking over the family business. Not long afterwards, without consulting his parents he made the decision to enter Shikoroyama stable because his sumo coach was close with its head, the former Terao. His parents had not expected this sudden change and were reluctant to meet with his coach at first, but Horikiri convinced them of his fervor.[1]
Career
In his first tournament in July 2013 he achieved a 6-1 record, losing only to Ikeru (who himself was also in his debut and went on to win the jonokuchi championship). In the following tournament in September, in the jonidan division, he had a 7-0 record, and took the championship, beating Aokishin in a playoff. In the next tournament, which was his sandanme debut, he only achieved a 4-3 but following that in January 2014 he got another perfect record and took the sandanme division championship. Over the next year, he posted four winning tournaments out of six. He was promoted to the salaried ranks of jūryō for the March 2015 tournament along with Amakaze and Ishiura. On this promotion, he chose the shikona of Abi which was the idea of his coach the aforementioned former sekiwake Terao. Abi was pronounced the same as Shikoroyama coach's nickname. The characters used were chosen in the hope that Horikiri could be strong like the many armed Asura (of which the first character is the same as in Abi's first character) and "on fire" in the ring (the second character means "flaming").[2]。
Though he lasted four tournaments in the division, he only managed one winning tournament and was demoted back to makushita after the September 2015 tournament. He spent the next eight tournaments moving up and down the top third of the makushita division. In the March 2017 tournament at makushita 16 he got a 7-0 record and took the championship. He would follow this with a strong 5-2 in May, which would finally garner re-promotion to jūryō in July 2017, in which he posted his first winning tournament (8-7) in his jūryō career. In the next tournament in September at jūryō 11 he posted a 10-5 record and on the final day beat both Homarefuji and Kotoyuki in a playoff to take the championship. An 11-4 record at jūryō 5 in November would propel him to the top flight makuuchi division for the first time. In his debut in January 2018 at maegashira 14 he had a record of 10-5 and earned the Fighting Spirit Prize along with Ryūden.[3] Another 10-5 for the March 2018 tournament saw him promoted to maegashira 2 for the May tournament,[4] where he recorded only seven win but earned his first kinboshi by defeating the yokozuna Hakuhō on day 6.[5] He won his second kinboshi in consecutive tournaments in July with a victory over Kakuryū on Day 5.[6]
Fighting style
Abi is a tsuki/oshi specialist, meaning he prefers to slap and push his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite are oshi-dashi (push out), hataki-komi (slap down) and tsuki-dashi (thrust out).
Career record
Year in sumo | January Hatsu basho, Tokyo |
March Haru basho, Osaka |
May Natsu basho, Tokyo |
July Nagoya basho, Nagoya |
September Aki basho, Tokyo |
November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | x | x | (Maezumo) | East Jonokuchi #19 6–1 |
West Jonidan #33 7–0–P Champion |
East Sandanme #34 4–3 |
2014 | West Sandanme #23 7–0 Champion |
West Makushita #13 3–4 |
East Makushita #18 5–2 |
West Makushita #11 5–2 |
East Makushita #7 3–4 |
East Makushita #11 6–1 |
2015 | West Makushita #2 5–2 |
East Jūryō #12 7–8 |
East Jūryō #13 8–7 |
West Jūryō #10 7–8 |
West Jūryō #11 5–10 |
West Makushita #1 3–4 |
2016 | West Makushita #4 4–3 |
East Makushita #2 2–5 |
East Makushita #12 5–2 |
West Makushita #4 1–6 |
West Makushita #21 3–4 |
West Makushita #28 4–3 |
2017 | East Makushita #24 5–2 |
East Makushita #16 7–0 Champion |
East Makushita #1 5–2 |
East Jūryō #14 8–7 |
West Jūryō #11 10–5–PP Champion |
West Jūryō #5 11–4 |
2018 | East Maegashira #14 10–5 F |
East Maegashira #7 10–5 |
West Maegashira #2 7–8 ★ |
East Maegashira #3 6–9 ★ |
West Maegashira #4 6–9 |
x |
Record given as win-loss-absent Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s) |
See also
References
- 1 2 『相撲』2018年3月号 p.14-15
- ↑ Abi, Amakaze, and Ishiura jūryō debut Nikkan Sports 2015-1-28
- ↑ "Champion Tochinoshin finishes New Year Basho in style". Japan Times. 28 January 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- 1 2 "Abi Masatora Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
- ↑ "Tochinoshin grabs sole lead as Hakuho takes first loss". Japan Times. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ "Sumo: Abi upsets grand champion Kakuryu on Day 5 in Nagoya". The Mainichi. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
External links
- Abi Masatora's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage