相撲

Grand champion Asashoryu has announced he is quitting sumo in the wake of his latest scandal.

The 29-year-old Mongolian is alleged to have punched and broken the nose of a man after a drinking binge at a night club in the capital during the New Year tournament.



At a press conference at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, the yokozuna (real name Dolgorsurengiin Dagvadorj) tearfully announced: "I caused trouble to a lot of people and I feel hugely responsible as yokozuna. I was the only one who could finish this matter the right way."

He went on: "I think I was destined to end my career like this."

Asashoryu won his 25th Emperor's Cup last month in Tokyo, despite his involvement in the incident, and is third on the all-time list of tournament winners behind Taiho with 32 and Chiyonofuji with 31. He holds the record of seven consecutive tournament wins starting with the 2004 Kyushu Grand Tournament.

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朝青龍

Mongolian born yokozuna (grand champion) Asashoryu is the bad boy of Japanese sumo wrestling but probably the most talented wrestler in the sport today.



Born in the Monglian capital of Ulan Bator, Asashoryu reached sumo's highest rank in 2003 and was the first Mongolian wrestler to do so. He is the trailblazer for the other Mongolians who have entered the sport in his wake including fellow yokozuna Hakuho.

Asashoryu has courted controversy throughout his career and was given a temporary ban by the Japanese Sumo Association in 2007 for feigning injury and withdrawing from a regional sumo tour to turn out in a charity soccer game in his homeland.

Asashoryu first came to Japan as an exchange student in Kochi and comes from a family of talented Mongolian wrestlers.

Asahoryu holds various records as a champion wrestler: he was the first yokozuna to win all six basho (tournaments) in a calendar year in 2005, the first yokozuna to be disqualified from a bout (after pulling on his opponent's hair) and the first yokozuna to make a court appearance to answer charges of match-fixing (which he won).

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