Hakurozan Yūta (born February 6, 1982 as Batraz Feliksovich Boradzov, russian: Батраз Феликсович Борадзов) is a former sumo wrestler. The highest rank he reached was ''

maegashira , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' 2. His older brother is also a former sumo wrestler, under the name of Rohō of

Ōtake stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. It was set up in 1971, as Taihō stable, by the 48th ''yokozuna'' Taihō Kōki on his retirement from wrestling. The first ''sekitori'' he produced was Shishihō in 1977. ...

. In September

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

both were dismissed from professional sumo after testing positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

Career

Hakurozan began wrestling at the age of 14, winning the world junior championship aged 16. He started sumo aged 18, winning the Moscow over 100 kg championship. He came to Japan in February 2002 with his brother. They had intended to join the same stable, but sumo regulations limit the number of foreign wrestlers to one per stable, so Batraz joined Hatachiyama stable while Soslan entered

. As with his brother, his ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the '' rikishi''. Like standard Japanese names, a ''shikona'' ...

'' contains the character 露, which can mean ''Russia''. Hatachiyama stable folded upon the death of its stablemaster, former '' ōzeki'' Hokutenyū, and Hakurozan joined the

Kitanoumi stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Dewanoumi '' ichimon'' or group of stables. It was set up in 1985 as Kitanoumi stable by former '' yokozuna'' Kitanoumi, who branched off from Mihogaseki stable. It absorbed Hatachiyama stable in 200 ...

. Hakurozan fought his first bout in May 2002, rising to ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' in September 2004, and ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' in July 2005. After a 10-5 result in May 2006 he reached ''maegashira'' 2, but a disastrous 2-13 the following tournament took him down to ''maegashira'' 10. He clung on to his top division status with an 8-7 mark at'' maegashira'' 14 in January 2007, but a poor 5-10 record in March meant he was demoted back to ''jūryō'' for the May 2007 tournament. He achieved nine wins there, which was enough to earn promotion to the top division in July. However, hampered by chronic knee problems, he could manage only three wins in the November 2007 tournament and was demoted to the second division once again. Scraping by with two 8-7 marks in the first two tournaments of 2008, he returned to ''makuuchi'' at ''maegashira'' 15 in May. Once again he could not maintain his top division ranking, only managing to win four matches.

Fighting style

Hakurozan often relied on sidestepping at the ''

tachi-ai The is the initial charge between two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout. It is a combination of two Japanese words that mean “stand” and “meet”. There are several common techniques that wrestlers use at the tachi-ai, with the ai ...

,'' like his brother. He frequently employed pull-down techniques such as ''hataki-komi'' and ''hiki-otoshi''. Although ''yorikiri'', or force out, was listed on his Sumo Association profile as his favourite technique, with a ''migi-yotsu'' or left hand outside and right hand inside grip as his preference, he ended up using ''hataki-komi'' more than any other winning technique throughout his career.

Cannabis scandal and dismissal

On September 2, 2008, he and his brother Rohō had a positive test result for

. This test occurred less than two weeks after fellow Russian Wakanohō was sacked after being arrested for cannabis possession, and the surprise inspection was taken on 69 ''jūryō'' and higher ranked wrestlers including the two ''yokozuna''. Although the Metropolitan Police Department questioned the two wrestlers and searched their rooms, no further legal action was taken because it is not illegal to fail a drug test under Japanese law. On September 6, Hakurozan and Rohō failed a second, more detailed set of doping tests conducted by an internationally certified laboratory, Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corp, which showed levels of the drug far beyond what could be consumed by secondhand smoke. On September 8, the

Japan Sumo Association The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling (called ''Ōzumō'', 大相撲) in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). '' Rikishi'' (active ...

held a meeting of the board of directors and decided on the dismissals of Rohō and Hakurozan. The chairman of the Sumo Association,

Kitanoumi , born , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the dominant wrestler in the sport during the 1970s. Kitanoumi was promoted to '' yokozuna'' at the age of 21, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank. He won 24 tournament ...

, resigned to take responsibility as Hakurozan belonged to his stable. Kitanoumi said that Hakurozan "had told me he had not used it, and I believed him." Both wrestlers moved out of their respective stables but stayed in Japan on short term visas and continued to deny any wrongdoing. On October 28, the brothers filed a lawsuit against the Sumo Association with the

Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the ...

seeking to revoke their dismissals, claiming the tests were administered incorrectly. They also sought 100 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

in damages. Their demands were rejected by the court in March 2009, the judge saying "“It is recognisable that the two used marijuana...and the use of marijuana was an act to damage trust of the association." The lawyer for the brothers indicated that they would appeal the ruling. The brothers reappeared in court on June 29, 2009, testifying for two and a half hours and criticising the conduct of the tests once again. Cross-examination of witnesses began on August 31, with Isenoumi Oyakata, Tomozuna Oyakata and Otake Oyakata among those called. Kitanoumi, Hakrozan's stablemaster, testified on December 21, saying he voted for expulsion "mainly because Hakurozan was my deshi and I didn't want to be seen as protecting him." Unlike his brother, Hakurozan was not in attendance as he has returned to Russia. The court found in favour of the Sumo Association on April 19, 2010, with the judge saying, "It has been proven that urine samples which showed positive results for marijuana were theirs, and it is unthinkable that they were mixed up with samples of others... the association's decision to dismiss them was adequate given that the use of illegal drugs had become a serious social problem." The District Court's ruling was upheld by the

Tokyo High Court is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court. Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one o ...

on November 18, 2010.

Career record

References

External links