Takanoiwa Yoshimori

Takanoiwa Yoshimori
貴ノ岩 義司
Personal information
Born	Adiya Baasandorj (1990-02-26) February 26, 1990 Ulan-Bator, Mongolia
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Weight	148 kg (326 lb)
Career
Stable	Takanohana
Current rank	see below
Debut	November, 2008
Highest rank	Maegashira 11 (Sep, 2014)
Championships	1 (Jūryō) 1 (Sandanme)
* Up to date as of Apr 27, 2015.

Takanoiwa Yoshimori (born 26 February 1990 as Adiya Baasandorj) is a sumo wrestler from Ulan-Bator, Mongolia. He has both a sandanme and a jūryō division championship.

Early life and sumo background

Baasandorj passed a selective test administered by a Japanese coach from Johoku High School in Shimane prefecture, who had come to Mongolia looking for sumo prospects. He was then invited to come to Japan as an exchange student on a sumo program at the age of sixteen. Only 3 months after coming to Japan, his father died of liver disease in Mongolia. He had already lost his mother to heart disease when he was eight years old. Through this adversity, he still managed to excel, and in 2007 made the best four in the individual category at a national junior sumo competition and in 2008 and finished second in the middle-weight category at the World Junior Championships in Athletics held in Thailand.

Career

In November 2008 he joined Takanohana stable, run by former yokozuna Takanohana who he had idolized since a young age. The ring name he would choose is purported to have come from a chance meeting with singer and author Akihiro Miwa in Haneda airport, as he was being accompanied by Takanohana from Shimane prefecture to his new stable. Upon meeting him, Miwa described him a "like a rock" (岩 iwa). This left an impression on him and that very evening he consulted with his stablemaster and together they conceived of the ring name of Takanoiwa (noble rock), the taka (貴) coming from his stablemaster's ring name (as is the custom at the stable).

His debut was delayed one tournament while his visa was procured, and he debuted in maezumō in the January 2009 tournament along with fellow recruits Takageppō and Takatoshi. Proceeding him were graduates from Johoku High School (well known for its strong sumo program) Takarafuji, Kimikaze and Tokushōryū. He official debut was is the following March 2009 tournament where he managed a strong 5-2 record in the jonokuchi division. In the May 2009 tournament in the jonidan division, he would vie for the championship, logging a perfect 7-0 record and only losing on the final day in a play-off. After two winning tournaments in the sandanme division, in the November 2009 he took the championship in that division with a 7-0 record and playoff win. This allowed him promotion to the makushita third division, but he struggled in this division for an over a year, rarely achieving a winning tournament and in the midway through the May 2011 tournament he dropped out and also missed the following tournament. He was relegated back to sandanme but was not deterred and posted a 6-1 record his first tournament back which allowed him to be promoted back to makushita the very next tournament where he achieved a 6-1 record and participated in a three man playoff for the championship, losing the second playoff match to future sekitori Chiyoōtori. His fortunes continued to improve and after four winning tournaments at makushita he was promoted to the salaried ranks of jūryō for the first time for the July 2012 tournament. After recording a winning 8-7 record, he had managed only two 7-8 tournaments after this. However, at the rank of jūryō 13, a rank low enough to face possible relegation if he did not perform well, he turned his fortunes around and took the championship in jūryō with a 12-3 record. After another five tournaments, achieving mostly winning records in jūryō he was finally promoted to the top tier makuuchi division for the January 2014 tournament. He would manage three tournaments, two of them losing tournaments, before he was again demoted to jūryō for the July 2014 tournament.

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament second division champions

References

External links

• Takanoiwa Yoshimori's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage