Kotoōshū Katsunori

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琴欧洲 勝紀
Kotoōshū Katsunori

Personal information
Birth name	Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov
Date of birth	February 19, 1983 (1983-02-19) (age 25)
Place of birth	Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Height	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)
Weight	152 kg (340 lb)
Web presence	website
Career*
Heya	Sadogatake
Current rank	Ōzeki
Record	275-142-14
Debut	November, 2002
Highest rank	Ōzeki (January, 2006)
Yusho	1 (Makuuchi) 1 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (2) Fighting Spirit (3)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Kotoōshū Katsunori (琴欧洲 勝紀) (born February 19, 1983 as Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov, Bulgarian: Калоян Стефанов Махлянов, in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria) is a professional sumo wrestler or rikishi. He is currently ranked as an ōzeki or 'champion', the second-highest level in the sumo ranking system behind only yokozuna. Popular with the Japanese public because of his good looks, he has been called the "David Beckham of Sumo"^[1] and the "Prince of Sumo," although he expressed displeasure with the former moniker.^[1] On May 24, 2008, Kotooshu made history by becoming the first European sumo wrestler to win an Emperor's Cup.^[2]

His name is derived from his place of origin — koto, shared by all wrestlers at his stable, and ōshū, meaning Europe. Following the September 2006 tournament, he changed one of the characters in his ring name (州 became 洲), although the pronunciation, shū, is the same for both.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Promotion to ozeki 3 Ozeki career 4 Fighting style 5 In popular culture 6 Top division record 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Early career

Kotoōshū was originally a Greco-Roman wrestler, coached by his father, and by the age of 14 he had already won a European championship. He was accepted by the Bulgarian National Sports Academy where he majored in wrestling.^[3]He hoped to compete for Bulgaria in the 2000 Olympic Games, but as his weight increased beyond the 120kg upper limit, he switched instead to sumo.^[4] He was recruited by Sadogatake stable.

Kotoōshū's professional sumo debut was in November 2002, starting in the lowest-ranked jonokuchi division. He posted kachikoshi (winning records in tournaments) throughout his early career, going 71-15 in the five divisions below the makuuchi top division. He reached makuuchi in September 2004, only 11 tournaments after his professional debut, the fastest rise since the introduction of the six tournaments per year system in 1958.^[5]

Upon reaching the top division he had kachikoshi winning records for four consecutive tournaments, being promoted to sanyaku at the rank of komusubi before the March 2005 basho (sumo tournament). At the rank of komusubi, he made his first makekoshi (losing tournament) record, and was demoted to maegashira again before returning to the higher rank of komusubi after a strong 10-5 record in May.

[edit] Promotion to ozeki

In the July 2005 tournament Kotoōshū defeated Asashōryū for the first time with an overarm (uwatenage) throw, bringing to an end a run of over twenty consecutive bout victories for the yokozuna. In addition to defeating Asashōryū he also was the runner up in the tournament, winning an "outstanding performance" sanshō prize.

Kotoōshū was promoted to sekiwake for the following September tournament and won his first twelve bouts, finishing with an exceptional 13-2 runner up record and only losing the tournament victory after a play-off bout with Asashōryū. An 11-4 record in the final, November, tournament of 2005, was his third runner-up performance in a row and included another victory over the otherwise dominant Asashōryū. This led to his promotion to the rank of ōzeki on November 30, 2005. His three tournament record (on which ōzeki promotions are based) was 36-9. His promotion coincided with the retirement of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Kotozakura.^[3]

His promotion to ōzeki took only 19 tournaments from his professional sumo debut. Although he was not the youngest ozeki ever, this represents the most rapid rise for a wrestler entering sumo from the bottom jonokuchi division. (Certain experienced amateur wrestlers can be given dispensation to start in the third-highest makushita division.) He is also the first wrestler of European birth to hold the ōzeki rank, and one of only six non-Japanese have to achieved it (the others being Konishiki, Akebono, and Musashimaru from Hawaii; and Asashōryū and Hakuhō from Mongolia). Of those six, four (Akebono, Musashimaru, Asashōryū and Hakuhō) later ascended to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna.

[edit] Ozeki career

After his promotion, Kotoōshū was somewhat restricted by a knee injury.^[6] He was also criticised for relying too much on the henka technique– jumping to the side at the initial charge.^[7] It is not considered to be a move worthy of someone at his high rank. Until May 2008, he had been the only active ōzeki to have never won a top division tournament championship.

Kotoōshū managed only three double-figure scores in 2006, and none at all in 2007, only doing enough to maintain his rank. Shortly before the November 2007 tournament he dislocated his right knee in training. Clearly troubled by the injury he pulled out on the 7th day, the first time in his career that he has had to withdraw from a tournament. He preserved his ōzeki rank with a 9-6 score in January 2008. In the Osaka tournament of March 2008 he injured his left arm in a match with Kakuryu on the 4th day and withdrew on Day 9 with only two wins.

Although he faced demotion in the May 2008 tournament, he won 12 consecutive bouts including dominating victories against yokozuna Asashoryu on the 11th day and yokozuna Hakuho on the 12th day. He was easily defeated by Aminishiki on the 13th day, but came back strong to defeat Ama on the 14th day, becoming the first European to win a top division championship.^[8] His father was in the crowd to witness his victory.^[8] He was also congratulated by the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.^[9]

[edit] Fighting style

Kotoōshū is a tall and rather light rikishi at 203 cm (6 feet, 8 inches) and 152 kg (334 pounds). In comparison, former yokozuna (grand champion) Akebono at the same height, weighed 235 kg (517 pounds) at his peak. Yokozuna Asashōryū is about the same weight, but is only 184 cm in height. Kotoōshū primarily relies on so-called 'belt-throws' to win his sumo bouts. Recently he has typically preferred to take a hidari-yotsu (left-hand inside grip) on his opponent's mawashi (the belt that is fixed around the wrestler's waist), although he is right handed and his overall profile still shows him preferring migi-yotsu (right-hand inside grip). He uses his long arms and quick footwork to counteract his high center of gravity and relatively light weight.

Kotoōshū has remarked that his tournament victory was partially due to a weight gain of five kilos which enabled him to be sturdier against his opponents.^[10]

[edit] In popular culture

• He is noted for being a fan of the singer Ayaya, so much so that it prompted a commercial where they appear together (although a surprised Kotoōshū found out the day of filming that their parts were to be digitally melded). He often appears in TV commercials of yogurt products. This is because a Japanese dairy company, Meiji Dairies Corporation, sells a series of yogurt products under the name of Bulgaria Yogurt.

• He was chosen as a special judge for the 56th edition of Japan's annual Kouhaku Utagassen on 31 December 2005.

• He was made the Goodwill Ambassador to Japan by the European Union in April 2006.^[11]

[edit] Top division record

Kotoōshū Katsunori^[12]

	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2004	x	x	x	x	East Maegashira #14 9–6	West Maegashira #10 11–4 F
2005	East Maegashira #4 9–6	West Komusubi 4–11	East Maegashira #5 10–5	East Komusubi 12–3 O	East Sekiwake 13–2 F	East Sekiwake 11–4 FO
2006	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 10–5
2007	East Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 8–7	East Ōzeki 2–5–8
2008	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 2–7–6	West Ōzeki 14–1	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

[edit] External links

• Kotooshu - Profile, Results, Pictures, Guest Book
• Nihon Sumo Kyokai - Biography