RESULTS
U.S. Open 2007 – Day 8
Men’s Singles Results Highlights
Andy Roddick USA (5) def. Tomas Berdych CZE (9) 7-6 (8-6) 2-0 Berdych retired
Tommy Haas GER (10) def. James Blake USA (6) 4-6 6-4 3-6 6-0 7-6 (7-4)
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (4) def. Hyung-Taik Lee KOR 6-1 6-3 6-4
Women’s Singles Results Highlights
Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (4) def. Victoria Azarenka BLR 6-2 6-3
Anna Chakvetadze RUS (6) def. Tamira Paszek AUT 6-1 7-5
Shahar Peer ISR (18) def. Agnieszka Radwanska POL (30) 6-4 6-1
Women’s Doubles Results Highlights
Bethanie Mattek USA (16) Sania Mirza IND (16) def. Lisa Raymond USA (2) Samantha Stosur AUS (2) 2-6 7-5 7-5 upset!
Mixed Doubles Results Highlights
Victoria Azarenka BLR Max Mirnyi BLR def. Sania Mirza IND Mahesh Bhupathi IND 6-4 6-1
Meghann Shaughnessy USA Leander Paes IND def. Ashley Harkleroad USA Justin Gimelstob USA 6-3 6-4
Zi Yan CHN (3) Mark Knowles BAH (3) def. Nathalie Dechy FRA Andy Ram ISR 6-4 6-4
THIS WEEK
Mon to Tue, 3rd to 4th Sep 2007
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Early Rounds
Wed to Thu, 5th to 6th Sep 2007
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Quarter-finals
Fri, 7th Sep 2007
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Women’s Semi-finals
Sat, 8th Sep 2007
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Men’s Semi-finals
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Women’s Finals
Sun, 19th Aug 2007
US Open Tennis Championships 2007: Men’s Finals
AVP Crocs Tour 2007: Final Day – Las Vegas Gods & Goddesses
Superbikes World Championship 2007: Race Day – Euro Speedway, Lausitz, Germany
Masters Football: Finals
COURTSIDE: AT THE US OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007
US Open Tennis Delivers Online Entertainment
In a bid to bring fans closer to their favourite tennis stars, IBM-created websites for the 127th annual US Open my USOpen.org and SlamTracker has embedded technology that allows spectators to follow their favourite players as the live action unfolds anytime, anywhere. In India the event is airing on Ten Sports. Point by point, IBM is delivering a host of new interactive capabilities to enhance the 2007 tournament experience in person, via the web and through television broadcasts.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA), together with IBM, provides fans an exclusive virtual seat at the world’s single largest annually attended sporting event. IBM director worldwide sponsorship marketing Rick Singer says, "USOpen.org is the destination for exclusive real-time tournament information, and this year, we’ve enhanced the fans’ experience dramatically. You have a personalized view into not just a standalone match but the complete tournament as the action unfolds. "From the umpire’s chair to online video to your television, IBM technology is integral in delivering the US Open’s premiere sports entertainment, immersing fans in how a match is played and how every point is played out."
A new home page feature, my USOpen.org, allows fans to easily track up to five of their favorite players and view automatic and customized updates on the players’ statistics, related news and interviews, match results and scores. Fans can also tag their favorite stories with social bookmarks, such as Digg and del.icio.us. No registration is required; a fan simply chooses his or her players of choice, and the site remembers the selections when he or she returns.
The USOpen.org site will also offer a more personalised tennis championship experience through the new SlamTracker application. Fans can now interact with the live draw, follow their tracked players in the context of the draw, and see current matches in progress and schedule updates integrated with the draw in a real-time scoring environment. A new interactive venue map also provides a view into what’s happening on all active match courts. With a simple roll of the mouse over locations on the map, fans can see who is playing on a given court and the online scoreboard changes to reflect the chosen match.
IBM’s real-time scoring system collects courtside data from each umpire’s chair and then stores and distributes the statistics to broadcast TV, USOpen.org, the intranet used by more than 1,500 international journalists at the event, closed circuit TV, electronic displays, and automated voice applications for players and spectators. IBM’s courtside radar gun not only displays the speed of serve courtside but it also sends the serve speed to the scoring database. On the broadcast courts, IBM statisticians enter winners, unforced errors, and net approaches in the IBM DB2 9 "Viper" central scoring database.
The scoring system ensures that spectators both at the stadium and online, can view details on the current schedule, matches in progress, and results for every match by court. IBM WebSphere software, leveraging a flexible service oriented architecture, streamlines the timely and accurate distribution of more than 200 million score updates to fans around the world. The advent of official line challenges in 2006 also proved an opportunity to showcase IBM hardware. When a player challenges a line call, instant replay cameras and display software from Hawkeye, powered by IBM servers, confirm whether the ball is in or out.
Expanding on last year’s positive reaction, IBM is also providing men’s and women’s players on Arthur Ashe, Louis Armstrong, Grandstand, courts 10 and 13 (the five broadcast courts) with a DVD following their match. The DVD enables these players and their coaches to view and analyse their match from any angle they want to view it. IBM automatically indexes the video with the match stats. Players can choose to view the video of just their aces, or forehand winners, or backhand unforced errors, or even go back to specific critical points in the match like watching the breakpoints. IBM integrates the data collected from multiple sources and formats.
Also new to the US Open in 2007, IBM Pressure Player Stat is a comparison statistic that can be used by a player and their fans, to evaluate how they perform in a high pressure situation. The five composite statistics measuring a player’s performance under pressure are: best service under pressure, best pressure returner, best overall pressure player, power server, and most complete player. These statistics are calculated by using a weighted scale to determine a player’s performance ranking on scenarios that have directly influenced the outcome of play. Source: Indian Television, 3rd Sep 2007
Tournament Evolved From Humble Beginnings
The U.S. Open had humble beginnings. Thirty years ago, tennis greats played the Open at a Forest Hills Country Club. Today, it's held at a state-of-the-art, luxury tennis center with more than 20 courts. NY1's Michelle Yu filed the following report on the evolution of the tournament. For the past 29 years, Flushing Meadows has been home to the U.S. Open. The fourth grand slam in tennis has seen major changes, including the building of Arthur Ashe Stadium in 1997 and the renaming of the facility to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006.
Attendance has grown along with the size of the facility. Thirty years ago, the Open was played at a smaller facility in Forest Hills at the West Side Tennis Club. “Tennis has become, on the professional level, a lot more glamour and glitz,” said tournament director Jay Snyder. “If you look at Forest Hills, that was a country club tournament. There were no parking places. There were 60 parking places available on top of the courts, not much.” The West Side Tennis Club became home to all five of the US Open events in 1968, which included women's and men's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles championships. One of the most historic moments at the club was in 1957 when Althea Gibson won the women's title. She became the first African American ever to win a grand slam. The club is known for its rich tradition, and less for its accommodations.
Everything certainly happens at the Open. The USTA Billie Jean King National tennis center now consists of two stadium facilities and 22 new outdoor tennis courts. With luxury suites, restaurants, souvenir shops and a variety of activities for kids, tennis enthusiasts say the center is the capital of the tennis world. “This is a tennis theme park,” said Snyder. “There is no question about it. There is a lot going on. The difference is here we can accommodate more than five times from that of Forest Hills. We play night, day matches. This is show-time in a lot of ways.” Even though the West Side Tennis Club and the USTA Billie Jean King National tennis center may look different at a glance, the two facilities have one thing in common – the elevation of tennis and its players. Source: NY1 News, 3rd Sep 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Indian cricket fans in non-cable households will be able to watch ICC’s Twenty20 World Cup kick off in South Africa on September 11. ESPN-Star Sports has conceded to Prasar Bharati’s demand to share its feed with Doordarshan for all the matches India plays, the semi-finals and the final, irrespective of whether India reaches the final stages. A source at Prasar Bharati confirmed the development. Sharing feed of the Twenty20 format is not mandatory for the private broadcaster, unlike one-day matches and Tests telecasts. However, officials in the I&B ministry and Prasar Bharati had insisted that since the event was of national importance, the feed of the Twenty20 series too should be shared with Doordarshan. Anticipating huge viewership, Prasar Bharati had demanded that sharing of the feed be made mandatory on the grounds that Twenty20 matches fall in the same category as one-day internationals. As per the law on mandatory feed sharing, the revenue sharing model is 75:25 in favour of the broadcaster. Source: Economic Times IND, 3rd Sep 2007
* Eurosport Asia launched its sports events channel Eurosport and its 24/7 international sports news channel, Eurosportnews on the World on Demand IPTV platform, owned and operated by The New Media Group (TNMG). Both channels will be on the platform in Australia while Eurosportnews will be available in Japan, further extending its reach in the Asia-Pacific market. Eurosport is currently available in 59 countries around the world, including eight in Asia, namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Maldives and Fiji. Source: Sport Business, Sport e-Media, Sportcal, Marketing Magazine HK, 3rd Sep 2007
* Zee Group is considering setting up a joint venture with a local partner in the Middle East to launch TV channels for the region. Zee is in talks with Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) for launching a channel in the local language, says a source in the company. Zee would offer its Hindi movie content which would be converted into the local language, the source adds. The other areas of negotiations include localisation of content for the new channel. Zee already runs a youth, music and lifestyle channel called Zee Arabiya. The channel caters to the Arab region's 'international' yuppies and music lovers in English, Arabic, and other Asian multi-cultural programming mix. Source: Indian Television, 3rd Sep 2007
* Eleven cities have applied to host the inaugural Youth Olympics in 2010, said the International Olympic Committee. The cities that met the IOC’s August 31 deadline are: Algiers (Algeria), Athens (Greece), Bangkok (Thailand), Belgrade (Republic of Serbia), Debrecen (Hungary), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Moscow (Russia), Poznan (Poland), Singapore (Singapore) and Turin (Italy). The cities now have until October 26 to submit their candidature files. These will be analysed by a panel of Olympic movement experts who will shortlist the candidates to be announced on November 12. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
* The Asian Tennis Federation has threatened to boycott the ATP Tour and start its own breakaway circuit unless 25% of the places at tournaments played in Asia are reserved for Asian players. This year’s ATP calendar features five Asian events, plus the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, which is open only to the world’s eight top players. Only one Asian player, South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik is ranked in the world’s top 100 players. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
* Sharad Pawar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has said that plans for an official Twenty20 competition involving players from home and abroad will be announced shortly. The BCCI believes that its event will supersede the Twenty20 tournament being organised by the breakaway Indian Cricket League this year. Although popular in England, Australia and South Africa, Twenty20 has been slow to develop in India. The process has been accelerated with the introduction of a world championship, the first of which will take place in South Africa this month. The BCCI has refused to sanction the ICL, backed by Essel Group, the owner of Indian media group Zee Telefilms, and has recruited around 50 domestic and international players. Pawar yesterday played down its significance, saying: ‘The ICL is a purely commercial proposition. It doesn’t do what the BCCI does for cricket at all levels in India.’ He reiterated that players who joined the ICL faced exclusion from official competitions and the Indian national team. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
* Authorities in Thailand have issued new warrants for the arrest of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now owner of Manchester City. The warrants relate to alleged violations of stock-trading laws. Last month, a court issued warrants for Shinawatra and his wife over corruption allegations relating to a land sale. Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations is probing allegations that the couple had concealed their assets in a firm, SC Assets Co Ltd. The BBC reports that the department said it had sought the warrant as the couple had repeatedly failed to appear in Bangkok to hear the charges. The couple was served with their first arrest warrant last month by the Supreme Court after failing to appear to hear the first in a series of corruption cases being brought against them. Source: Sport Business, 3rd Sep 2007
* IEC in Sports was appointed to handle worldwide TV and Digital New Media distribution for the WTA Internationaux de Strasbourg for the period of 2008 to 2011. IEC teamed up with its first Women’s event back in the late 1990’s and have since then developed a large, long term portfolio of tournaments. The four year agreement with WTA Internationaux de Strasbourg is an important cornerstone for IEC in Sports in its extensive Women’s tennis portfolio which by now includes 15 events from all corners around the world. The tournament will continue to be played the week before French Open and will therefore keep attracting top players to fight out for the honourable victory. Source: Sport Business, Sports e-Media, 3rd Sep 2007
* Captain of Juventus, Alessandro Del Piero, has won the 2007 Golden Foot Award, the prestigious international career prize awarded by the votes from fans. Del Piero took the lead since polling opening on 15th May and, although his lead was threatened by Roberto Carlos, he has remained the leader until the end, showing that he is the fans' favourite, and not just in Italy. The "Bianconeri" number 10, who won the 2006 World Cup with the Italian national team, got 30,199 votes, Roberto Carlos, the Brazilian player of Fenerbahçe SK, finished second (with 29,174 votes). Quite unexpectedly David Beckham finished third (with 24,121 votes), thanks to the support of American fans, surpassed AC Milan’s legend Paolo Maldini (with 20,700 votes). Source: Golden Foot Newsletter, 3rd Sep 2007
* F1 power players Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone have finally unveiled details of a much-trailed £14 million offer for Queen's Park Rangers the English second tier football club. Reports say they will pay £1 million for QPR's shares and take on £13 million of debt. The pair will also loan the club £5 million - partly to buy new players. The board has urged shareholders to accept the deal, saying it represents QPR's best chance of winning promotion to the Premier League "in time". The club was one of the founding members of the FA Premier League in 1992, and had Premiership status for four years before being relegated in 1996. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, EUFootball.biz, 3rd Sep 2007
* The ATP Tennis Masters Series is to be replaced in 2009 with a new ‘1000’series of eight events in which players must compete or risk suspension from their most successful events if they withdraw from tournaments. The events in which winners will gain 1000 ranking points, are in Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid, Cincinnati, Canada, Shanghai and Paris. The Monte Carlo event will have ‘1000’ status but will not be mandatory. The Masters Series event in Hamburg has been downgraded and replaced by Shanghai, while Madrid is to switch from its indoor slot in October to become a combined men’s and women’s outdoor event in May. Players who miss tournaments without a medical excuse risk being fined $100,000 and suspended from their most successful event on the following year’s calendar. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
MORE NEWS
India/General: Spyker Takeover Could Boost Indian Grand Prix Hopes
Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya is fronting a bid for struggling Formula 1 motor racing team Spyker, a move which could help pave the way for a grand prix in the country. Mallya and Michiel Mol, Spyker’s director of Formula 1, have made an offer of €80 million ($109 million) for the team, which has been accepted by Spyker Cars, the Dutch sports car manufacturer. Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai on Saturday, Mallya, the head of drinks group UB, said: ‘Team India is on the Formula 1 grid. I have been dreaming about owning a team. I was looking at the right opportunity to show up at the right time.’
The deal should be finalised within the next month and could see the return of Indian Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, currently a test driver for Williams, to the world championship. Mallya said: ‘It would give me immense pleasure to see an Indian drive an Indian F1 car, but we have to consult with the team principal and chief technical officer.’
Spyker acquired its team from the Russian-born Canadian Alex Shnaider’s Midland Group only last year, but it has become a financial burden. Spyker posted a net loss of €29.9 million in the first half of this year and it is reported that the Formula 1 team lost €13 million during the same period. A Formula 1 delegation including German track designer Herman Tilke was due to arrive in India today to evaluate three possible venues for a future grand prix. In June, the Indian Olympic Association said that it had received a conditional offer from Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone to stage a race in New Delhi from 2009. Mallya has long campaigned for an Indian Grand Prix and believes his involvement can only help the cause, saying: ‘I support anyone who can bring F1 to India. If the Olympic Association is keen, I am on their side. Now owning an F1 team, it’s even more in my interests.’ Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Bundesliga's TV and Internet Rights Unlikely to Be Bundled
The DFL, the German football league, looks set to ensure that television and internet rights are sold to different companies during the tender for soccer's top-tier Bundesliga beginning with the 2009-10 season. Christian Seifert, the DFL chief executive officer, praised incumbent internet rights holder Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications group, during an interview with Handelsblatt, the German financial newspaper. Seifert described Deutsche Telekom as 'an important partner,' in view of 'a German media market lacking strategic partners,' and the league has been reported as keen not to hand over both television and internet rights to one party.
The news comes as a blow to Premiere, the pay-television broadcaster that recently launched a €250-million ($340.8-million) share issue to fund a bid for rights, possibly incorporating free-to-air and internet rights as well as pay-television. Deutsche Telekom acquired the IPTV technology rights to the Bundesliga for three years from the start of the 2006-07 campaign in a deal worth approximately €45 million a year. However, the fee was subsequently reduced when the company agreed with the league that it would not exploit its rights via cable and satellite as part of an alliance with Premiere.
Meanwhile, Seifert said that the league was expecting the Bundesliga's broadcast rights to increase in value for the next three-year contract. He said, 'For the upcoming sale of television rights we are expecting a growth in income, in accordance with the framework of the market possibilities.' The Bundesliga's pay-television rights beginning with the 2006-07 season were sold to Unity Media, the consortium of cable television channels, for €240 million a year, before Premiere bought sub-licensed rights for €100 million a year for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
Seifert underlined the value for money that the league gives its television partners, in particular ARD, the public-service broadcaster, that paid between €85 million and €100 million to broadcast its highlights show at 6.30pm on Saturday evenings. 'How much television content could you name that regularly attracts 6 million viewers and generates a 30-per-cent market share? The Bundesliga has been a value-for-money product for the public-service broadcasters. The viewers pay less than €0.30 of their licence fee each month for the Bundesliga - in view of the huge popularity among the viewers I don't think it [the rights fee] is expensive.'
The DFL chief executive did warn that the league 'must realise that the German market has a limited buying power, and that applies to sports rights as well.' Commenting on the future of ARD's early-evening Sportschau highlights programme, Seifert said that it 'is not protected' as the award of rights had to be neutral. He also advocated the benefits of pushing a free-to-air highlights programme back to later on Saturday evenings, in order to reap the rewards of a higher rights fee from a pay-television bidder seeking more exclusivity.
He said: 'I am not ruling anything out. Sportschau was already moved from 6pm to 6.30pm during the last rights allocation and the television world did not collapse. One thing is clear: the later that Sportschau is broadcast, the more expensive the Bundesliga's live rights will be.' Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Canal Plus Has No Value Without Ligue 1 Rights
Frédéric Thiriez, president of the LFP, French soccer's professional league, has claimed that the value of Canal Plus, the pay-television broadcaster, would be seriously undermined if it failed to retain the rights to French soccer's top-tier Ligue 1. Thiriez has defended the price of the present three-year rights contract, ending after the 2007-08 season, for which Canal Plus is paying €600 million ($818.2 million) a year, despite last week's warning from the broadcaster that it would not be interested in renewing the deal at the same price. Thiriez insists that €600 million is the minimum price for the next rights period, that runs for three seasons from the 2008-09 campaign onwards.
The LFP president appeared on France 2 Foot, the weekly Ligue 1 highlights show, and offered a stern riposte to Canal Plus' comments when asked what the value of the ligue was. He said: 'You ask me, what is the value of the league? I'd turn the question around and say, what is Canal Plus' value without the league? It's nothing. It's nothing.' Thiriez drew a comparison with the loss of domestic soccer rights by Premiere, the German pay-television broadcaster, or the 'German Canal Plus' as he described it.
He said that Premiere's loss of Bundesliga rights for the 2006-07 season prompted a 45-per-cent drop in share value the next day and warned that, because of that, 'Canal Plus needs Ligue 1.' Bertrand Méheut, the president of Canal Plus, said last week that soccer had become less important than in the past for Canal Plus and that it might not need the Ligue 1 rights in their entirety. The league has been concerned about a possible drop in rights value since Canal Plus' merger with rival TPS reduced competition for the rights. The league even attempted to extend the next rights contract from three years to five to attract new bidders, a plan rejected by France's competition watchdog. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
Elsewhere/General: FA and Premier League on Collision Course over Champions League
The Football Association, England’s governing body for soccer, is on a collision course with the top-tier Premier League over controversial plans by Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, to allow domestic cup winners to enter the Uefa Champions League competition in the future. At present, teams qualify for the Champions League and the preliminary rounds by virtue of their position in domestic leagues. The Premier League is opposed to the plan, but Brian Barwick, the FA’s chief executive, said: ‘It is important to keep as many English clubs in the Champions League as possible. IF another route is via the FA Cup, it’s a perfectly reasonable suggestion.’ A final decision has been delayed until the meeting of Uefa’s executive committee in November, but Platini is hopeful the change will be accepted.
In recent years, the top four teams in the domestic leagues of England, Spain and Italy have earned the right to play in the Champions League. Under the new system, which would come into effect in time for the 2009-10 season, this would go down to three. However, the cup winners in the top three countries, which currently earn Uefa Cup spots, would join 13 other national cup winners in a separate qualifying competition, with Champions League places up for grabs. The proposal is seen as something of a compromise as Platini had originally suggested setting a limit of three teams from each country in the Champions League, a proposal which did not go down well with the major leagues and clubs.
The league champions of leading countries would automatically qualify for the group stage, along with several of the runners up and third-placed teams, as Uefa seeks to be more inclusive. Platini has admitted that the plan still faces significant opposition from leagues and clubs wary of the inclusion of cup winners in the Champions League and has given them a month to come up with an alternative proposal for consideration. Source: Sportcal, 3rd Sep 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Sumo Still a Force to be Reckoned With
Mark Schilling comments on Variety Asia, 3rd Sep 2007
For Americans, baseball and football are more than sports — they're a cultural touchstone, as well as big businesses, with everyone from brand managers to T-shirt vendors cashing in. In Japan, sumo, a native style of wrestling developed over two millennia, is the national pastime. Like baseball, and for that matter Western-style wrestling, sumo relies increasingly on stars, savvy marketing and broadcast TV to keep it a cultural and financial phenom. And after something of a lull in popularity, a pair of dominant stars — from Mongolia of all places — have lifted the prospects for the sport once again.
More than just two fat guys in diapers bumping bellies, the sport boasts legions of fans who appreciate its technical rigors and traditional rituals as much as its stars. The sport airs nationwide on pubcaster NHK, whose general channel broadcasts nearly three hours of sumo daily, including all the bouts of the two top divisions (during the tournaments) as well as up to five hours daily on the BS2 satellite channel and various digest broadcasts. Ratings are patchy, hitting highs toward the end of the tourney but falling to lows during weekdays. The first day of bouts for the most recent tournament in July garnered a rating of 8.9 on the NHK general channel; by comparison, the most watched sports show of 2006 — the FIFA World Cup match between Japan and Croatia — did a whopping 52.7 rating.
Sumo is also seen by thousands of paying fans at the six annual tournaments, each lasting 15 days. Tickets to the matches themselves bring in more money than do broadcast license fees. Four-person boxes on the first floor of the Tokyo arena where three of the yearly tourneys are held start at ¥36,000 ($295), with seats in the back row of the balcony, where the wrestlers look like fighting ants, going for $17.20. In 2006, the total income of the Japan Sumo Assn. (JSA) — the governing body of pro sumo — was just shy of $82 million, with $42 million coming from regular tourney ticket sales and $25 million from broadcast license fees.
Still, the popularity of sumo does fluctuate — mainly with the rise and fall of star wrestlers — and for much of the current decade, the sport has been in a down cycle. During the reign of Takanohana, a charismatic Japanese champion from a revered sumo clan that won 22 tournaments in the 1990s and early 2000s, sumo often played to packed arenas daily. But since Takanohana’s retirement in 2003, the banners signifying a full house unfurl only on the weekends, if then.
For the past four years, sumo has been dominated by Asashoryu, a wrestler from Mongolia who has reeled off 21 titles and served as the sole holder of the grand champion, or yokozuna — sumo’s highest rank — for 21 straight tournaments, the longest such streak in sumo history. While renowned for his speed, power and take-no-prisoners attitude in the ring, Asashoryu has been a controversial champ, notorious for flouting sumo customs and rules. His most recent, and serious, faux pas was playing in a charity soccer game in Mongolia when he was supposedly recovering from an injury — and his top-ranking colleagues were on an exhibition tour in Japan.
This angered sumo elders, who on Aug. 1 suspended Asashoryu from the September and November tournaments, while cutting his pay 30% for four months and forbidding him to return to Mongolia. Shocked, Asashoryu has fallen into depression and been visited by several doctors, including one sent by the JSA. Last week, at the recommendation of chief JSA doctor Hiroyuki Yoshida, the JSA executive committee allowed Asashoryu to return to Mongolia for treatment, accompanied by his coach, Uragoro Takasago.
Fortunately for the JSA, there is now another yokozuna to fill in while Asashoryu waits out his suspension (if he doesn’t leave the pros entirely): Hakuho is a baby-faced, easy-going Mongolian who reeled off two straight tourney victories in March and May to earn promotion to sumo’s highest rank. In the July tourney in Nagoya, his first as yokozuna, Hakuho finished with a respectable 11-4 won-loss record, losing the championship to Asashoryu. “It’s better to have at least two yokozuna — and it would be even better if one of them were Japanese. That way more fans will come,” Takasago told Variety prior to Hakuho’s promotion.
While wrestlers from Hawaii were once prominent in the top division — two made it as high as yokozuna — no Americans are currently active in the pros. This, says Takasago, isn’t the result of anti-Americanism, but rather of the rise of international amateur sumo competitions, where many of today’s top foreigners got their start. Sumo itself has long since gone on the global road, making jaunts to foreign climes to introduce the sport to the locals, recently in South Korea, China — and even Las Vegas. There is also a movement in the amateur ranks to make sumo an Olympic sport, but the JSA, Takasago says, is not involved. One unstated reason: Pro sumo has no plans to let women compete. (The amateurs are more accommodating, holding women-only tournaments.) In fact, women are not even allowed to step into the pro sumo ring, since they are considered too “impure” to enter such a sacred space.
The internationalization of sumo has not been without controversy, with traditionalists arguing that, as Japan’s national sport, sumo ought to be for Japanese only, not Mongolians, Estonians and Bulgarians. The JSA has tried to control the influx of foreign recruits, limiting each of the 53 stables to one outsider, but once a foreigner joins, the only limitations are his own desire and talent. “On the inside, it isn’t as much about flags and passports, as many make out,” says Mark Buckton, editor-in-chief of Sumo Fan Magazine.
Ashashoru’s rebel nature hasn’t gone over all that well in a sport in which participants still adhere to a centuries-old code of conduct inside the ring and out, such as bowing to an opponent before and after a bout and bringing a higher-ranked wrestler a drink of water after a practice session. Beginning wrestlers, some as young as 15, live and practice in sumo communes, or “stables,” under the watchful eyes of a live-in coach and higher-ranking wrestlers. They are required to not only unquestioningly follow their seniors’ orders, but to wait on them hand and foot, as unpaid servants. No one — not even a star amateur — hires an agent, inks a contract or receives a bonus before joining the pros. In fact, no one receives a salary of any kind until he ascends to the second-highest of sumo’s six divisions.
They grow their hair long enough to tie into the traditional topknot, wear a thin cotton gown called a yukata, eat traditional stew out of a common pot and otherwise live much as their predecessors did in the Edo era (1600-1868), when sumo assumed its present-day form. In other words, sumo is proud of its distinctiveness — and so far its stars remain firmly fixed in this rigorously ringed firmament. While fiercely guarding its traditions (including the one about women not stepping into the ring), the JSA does allow its wrestlers to appear on TV, sign endorsement deals and otherwise earn money like other sports celebs — but only after first getting JSA approval.
The JSA also promotes its tourneys with posters in trains and ads in magazines, while hawking tickets on Internet sites and even at convenience stores, but declines most TV spots, especially the flashy variety used to hype pro wrestling and other fighting sports in Japan. And that sumo, the JSA insists, is clean. In February and again in April, the JSA filed civil suits against the publisher of Shukan Gendai, a weekly tab that ran articles alleging that everyone from Asashoryu to current JSA chairman Kitanoumi — a major star in the 1970s — had fixed bouts.
Despite recent controversies and the ongoing need to ride herd on its stars, the sumo bottom line is looking brighter: The crowning of a new yokozuna and the emergence of new young talent, both Japanese and foreign, has boosted fan interest and the JSA expects revenues to rise almost 10% in 2007, to $91 million. But whether or not the JSA’s rosy forecast comes true, one thing is certain: Sumo wrestlers won’t start sporting tattoos, performing victory dances in the ring or otherwise behaving like their Westernized pro-wrestling brethren.
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