Storm on the Sumo, sacred symbol of Japan. Caught in a series of scandals, could permanently wreck the sport in which wrestlers will seize 200 kg and try to hurl at each other outside the dohyo (the ring) in meetings that can last a few seconds, but that swell the bank account of the wrestlers sumo.
The latest scandal has seen 14 wrestlers and team-leaders accused of cheating several meetings in recent tournaments. The court confiscated the cellphones of some rikishi (sumo wrestlers professionals) involved in the investigation of a scandal: illegal betting on baseball games, betting run by the yakuza, the Japanese criminal organization. This
investigation ditching the plan to upgrade the JSA (Japan Sumo Association) national interest in a corporation that, among other benefits, would also have to an 8% discount on the fees paid to tax authorities on the revenues of the sport.
The downturn of sumo began three years ago, when a seventeen student died after being savagely beaten by two wrestlers adult in a case of bullying. Since then a string of scandals: illegal gambling, and collusion with organized crime, drugs, blackmail, violent brawls in public places. The rikishi, which should be authentic bearers of the Japanese spirit, ended up more often in the pages of crime than in sports.
Big tournaments have been erased or damaged. The NHK, state television, which broadcast live coverage of the big tournaments, withdrew to the exclusive rights for which the Jsa paid an annual fee of € 25 million, a quarter of the revenue officers of the Association. The structures of the organization have begun to falter even when the sponsors have expressed serious concerns to renew contracts.
in a major summer tournament, all front row seats were occupied by yakuza godfathers of millions of Japanese have long been able to see close-ups on television. The message must be clear: the real sponsors of the sumo us.
But the rot Sport, which came out only in recent years, concerns also the past. The former sumo champion, Keisuke Itai, in 2000 revealed the presence of many foreign correspondents that most of the meetings between 1978 and 1991 were rigged. At the same time Itai claimed to have received 400,000 yen from the grand champion Akebono to win a match because the left.
JSA sent him a bland letter denying the facts and Itai called to apologize. The sample did not do it and repeated his accusations in a book.
In 2007, the weekly magazine Shukan Gendai Kodansha Publishing Group Ltd reported that the champion Asashoryu wins easily buy paying their opponents. The JSA sued for defamation and il gruppo Kodansha fu condannato a pagare 44 milioni di yen ( 440 mila euro) per non essere stato in grado di presentare delle prove sufficienti.
Un lottatore yokozuna (massimo livello) riceve uno stipendio mensile di 27 mila euro , un ozeki, un gradino più basso, 23 mila euro. E via discendendo in categorie più basse , dove non solo non è previsto lo stipendio , ma c’è anche l’obbligo di cucinare i pasti chanko ( la micidiale dieta ingrassante) per i colleghi delle categorie superiori ed accudirli in ogni circostanza nelle categorie dove vivono tutti assieme. Se all’interno di un torneo si ottengono più vittorie che sconfitte si passa alla categoria superiore. Se sono più sconfitte la retrocessione is inevitable. It often happens that the result of one last encounter depends on the fate of a fighter. So it's hard to resist the temptation to buy a meeting by a colleague who has nothing to lose by a defeat in more.
Many are demanding that ousted the entire ruling class and are disqualified for life all the wrestlers involved in the scandals. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has gone to Parliament to officially express grief and concern over the clamor of the scandals in the sumo world and stated that the Prime Minister's Cup will cancel the intended winner of a tournament, in a gesture of indignation and condemnation.
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