Hakurozan Yūta (born February 6, 1982, as Batraz Feliksovich Boradzov, ) is a former

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler. The highest rank he reached was '' maegashira'' 2. His older brother is also a former sumo wrestler under the name of Rohō of Ōtake stable. In September

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, both were dismissed from professional sumo after testing positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

Career

Hakurozan began wrestling at the age of 14, winning the world junior championship aged 16. He started sumo at age 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 Ōtake stable. 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 Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'' 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. 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 Professional sumo divisions, 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 ...

'' 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,'' 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 , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls Professional sports, professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Min ...

held a meeting of the board of directors and decided on the dismissals of Rohō and Hakurozan. The chairman of the Sumo Association, Kitanoumi, 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 seeking to revoke their dismissals, claiming the tests were administered incorrectly. They also sought 100 million yen in damages. Their demands were rejected by the court in March

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 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 on November 18, 2010.

Career record

References

External links