A disgraced Russian sumo wrestler threatened on Monday to lift the lid on drug use, match-fixing and other ”evil things” plaguing the ancient sport.
Soslan Gagloev (20) rose quickly through the ranks under the ring name Wakanoho, but was thrown out last month for marijuana possession and has since tried unsuccessfully to return.
”The current sumo world is dirty and I wouldn’t be able to forgive it even if I can return,” he told reporters through a translator.
”I was forced to play unfair matches in return for money as soon as I entered ‘makuuchi,”’ the highest echelon of the sumo ranks, he said.
”My stable master and others knew [about bout-fixing] but nobody stepped in because they had been also playing unfair matches themselves,” he said.
He said other stable masters and wrestlers were smoking marijuana but not being punished.
He did not name names in the 10-minute press conference but said he was ready to testify in court to back the publisher of a magazine that accused grand champion Asashoryu and others of fixing matches.
”I also want to tell all other evil things that I know,” he said, adding he wanted to clean up the sport.
Asashoryu, a Mongolian, has flatly denied match-fixing. He has joined other wrestlers and the sumo association in a libel suit against Japan’s top publisher Kodansha, seeking tens of millions of yen in damages.
Gagloev’s remarks are certain to provoke outrage among sumo traditionalists who believe that wrestlers should be taciturn role models and have been uncomfortable with the behaviour of some foreigners rising in the sport.
The association declined to comment on his latest remarks.
Gagloev took the unprecedented step of suing the sumo authority this month, demanding a return to the sport — an idea rejected by its head.
The 2 000-year-old sport has been hit by a series of scandals, including the death last year of an apprentice whose master and elders beat him with bottles and a baseball bat during training. – AFP
