Kiribayama Tetsuo

His father was a sheep-raising nomad in Dornod Province. From a young age, he rode horses to help his father at work, which strengthened his legs and waist – an advantage for sumo. In 2014, he was invited by an acquaintance along with four other Mongolians to Japan to try out sumo at Michinoku stable. He had judo experience but not sumo experience. At that time, he was over 180 cm tall, but weighed less than 70 kg. The Michinoku stablemaster, ex-ōzeki Kirishima, thought Byambachuluun was the best of the five, but was reluctant at first to take on a foreign recruit. The stable had not had a foreigner since Hakuba was forced to retire over match-fixing allegations in 2011. He eventually relented after Byambachuluun committed to staying in Japan, and let him take the new recruits examination in February 2015. After satisfying visa requirements, he made his dohyō debut in May 2015. Despite his lack of sumo experience he looked good in sumo school against future top division wrestlers such as Hokutofuji and Ura.

He took four years from his professional debut to reach the sekitori ranks, hindered by a serious knee injury in May 2016, but was eventually promoted in March 2019. He was the first new sekitori Michinoku stable had produced since Kirinowaka in January 2008. He moved through the jūryō division in just five tournaments.[1] His fellow Mongolian, yokozuna Kakuryū, became his stablemate in October 2019 when Izutsu stable closed.[1] He took part in a four-way playoff for the jūryō championship or yūshō in November 2019, his 11–4 record securing his promotion. In his debut top makuuchi division tournament in January 2020 he won the Fighting Spirit Prize with an 11–4 record.[2] In March he stood at only four wins against six losses after Day 10, but won his last five matches to secure a 9–6 record and promotion to his highest rank to date of maegashira 3 for the Natsu tournament originally scheduled for May.

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, Kiribayama's preferred grip on his opponent's mawashi is hidari-yotsu, a right arm outside and left hand inside position. His favourite techniques are listed as yori-kiri (force out) and nage (throws), both underarm and overarm. In the run-up to his top division promotion he increased his weight by 10kg to 140kg, giving him a more powerful attack, but he is still able to outmaneuver his opponents by his speed and footwork.

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• Kiribayama Tetsuo's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage