<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"> More training <div dir="ltr"><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><b>From:</b> Moti Dichne <niramiai@gmail.com><br><b>Date:</b> September 8, 2021 at 3:58:16 AM EDT<br><b>To:</b> Sumo Newsletter2 <sumo-newsletter2@googlegroups.com><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>[Sumo news] - Takakeishou, Takayasu</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> niramiai@gmail.com<br><br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">"I have been training daily and doing sumo. I don't know how many bouts as I have not been counting," said Kadoban Ozeki Takakeishou in a phone interview today. "I'm doing what I can, and I just have to do what needs to be done.. I am cured (neck injury) . No injuries at this time. I am aiming for the yusho every single basho so I'm not thinking of my kadoban status. It's important to properly give it my all. It's not like my neck injury is something new. I've been coping with that and doing my best. I intend to become strong doing what I usually do," he said. He started training around August 30th. Aren't you afraid to attack with your head, having that neck injury? "I need to be attacking with my head. I have been gradually doing that and polishing my oshi and tsuki as well. If I don't go all out, the fear may appear, but I have been properly going all out, so there was no anxiety," he added. "These last two months I have been maintaining a diet and doing stuff without the mawashi the best I can. The injury came from something I did, so I'm thinking a lot about what I did wrong and will attempt to fix it. I will be concentrating on myself (Terunofuji became Yokozuna. What about you??) and trying not to lose. My aim is to enter in perfect condition and go all out and gambarize!" he summed.<br><div><br></div><div>Komusubi Takayasu no longer has ex-Kisenosato to train with at the heya as the latter has branched out on his own. "I did the fundamentals. Since the joint Kyokai sessions, I have been properly doing the fundamentals and sweating profusely and lending my chest to the lower rankers. I've been doing all sorts of stuff and working hard," he said. That being said, he has put himself in disadvantageous positions against the lower rankers and trying out ways to get out of them. "I've been training in all sorts of ways and my body is in great shape and the quality of my sumo is good as well. I'm in good shape. At this point I'm working hard and gambarizing, " he reiterated. After Ichinojou was found positive, Takayasu was confined to his house for a few days and had to improvise some training at home. "I did some abdominal muscle and back muscle training so my body did not weaken," he added. He injured his back before last basho, joining the basho on day three and getting a makekoshi, after training aggressively against ex- Kisenosato. "I was ready 140% at the time. Looking back, I may have overdone it and injured my back like a rookie," he reminisced. "This time, I feel I have properly been listening to my body and taking things slower. I want to go through the 15 days without pain and it's best to be in the best condition (he said that in English..). I want to remain in the yusho race till senshuraku. and add excitement to the basho. We are living in difficult times and as a rikishi I would like to show some spirited and positive sumo," he summed.<br></div>
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