Sumo grand champion Terunofuji, the only current yokozuna, has decided to retire after an injury-plagued career, a Japan Sumo Association source said Thursday.
The Mongolian-born 33-year-old, a 10-time winner in the elite makuuchi division, cut short his latest comeback following his second loss at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, where he forfeited his bout on Thursday to end with a 2-3 record.
Terunofuji completed just two out of six tournaments in 2024, winning the Emperor’s Cup on both occasions, as he dealt with a host of health problems, including chronic knee pain and diabetes.
Grand champion Terunofuji is pictured after losing his bout against to Tobizaru on the fourth day of the New Year Sumo Grand Tournament at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan on Jan. 15, 2024. (Kyodo)
The ancient sport’s 73rd yokozuna, Terunofuji, will pursue a coaching career having already gained Japanese citizenship, a requirement for wrestlers to remain in the JSA after they finish competing.
Terunofuji will be the first wrestler to retire as a grand champion since fellow Mongolian-born wrestler Hakuho, who won a record 45 championships, in September 2021.
Unless Mongolian ozeki Hoshoryu posts a championship-caliber performance this month to win yokozuna promotion, having gone 13-2 in November’s Kyushu meet, Terunofuji’s retirement will leave the exalted rank vacant for the first time since March 1993, when Hawaiian-born Akebono debuted as a yokozuna.
A foreign-born wrestler has continuously held the yokozuna rank since then, but that streak will end unless Hoshoryu succeeds. Since Asashoryu’s promotion in March 2003, five Mongolian-born wrestlers have achieved yokozuna status.
Terunofuji struggled from the outset of the ongoing 15-day competition at Ryogoku Kokugikan after hurting his right knee and lower back ahead of the meet.
He has missed all or part of 24 meets in total, including 13 of his 21 as a yokozuna.
No wrestler has had as many ups and downs in their career as Terunofuji, who reached the second-highest rank of ozeki in July 2015 at age 23 and fought there until September 2017. However, he tumbled to the fifth-tier jonidan division by March 2019 due to fitness issues, including injuries to both his knees and an internal organ disease.
Following persuasion by his Isegahama stablemaster to continue his career, Terunofuji climbed all the way back to makuuchi in July 2020, when he remarkably won his second Emperor’s Cup and earned yokozuna promotion ahead of the Autumn meet in September 2021.
Terunofuji, however, admitted after his yokozuna promotion that both his heavily strapped knees were in a state that would normally require having artificial joints.
Terunofuji served as the lone yokozuna for more than three years during a period in which the sport was affected heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic and reached double digits in championships at the Nagoya meet last July when he last completed a tournament.
Yokozuna Terunofuji celebrates with supporters after winning the 15-day Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament at Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, central Japan, on July 28, 2024. (Kyodo)
Related coverage:
Sumo: Terunofuji survives 3rd-day scare at New Year tourney
Sumo: With yokozuna promotion at stake, Hoshoryu focused on process
Sumo: Kotozakura keeps cool ahead of New Year yokozuna promotion bid
