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September 2, 2008 9:03 AM
by Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO - Japan's sumo board fired a top-division Russian wrestler yesterday after he was arrested on suspicion of carrying marijuana, in the latest blow for the ancient sport which is trying to recover from recent scandals.
The Japan Sumo Association has sacked 20-year-old Wakanoho after police caught him with 0.4 grams of cut marijuana leaves and a cigarette containing marijuana.
Wakanoho, of North Ossetia in Russia, is the first wrestler to get fired in the 83-year history of the association, the sumo body said, though some sumo trainers have been fired in the past.
Most notably, the head of a stable was fired last year
following the death of a 17-year-old trainee. The head was
later arrested on suspicion of assault resulting in the teenage
wrestler's death.
Sumo, which some historians say dates back 2000 years, has
been plagued by troubles in recent months.
One of the highest-ranked "yokozuna" (the top rank in
professional sumo wrestling) from Mongolia sparked an uproar
last year when he was filmed playing in a charity soccer match
in Mongolia after pulling out of a regional tour in Japan
citing a back injury.
Wakanoho himself had been warned by the sumo body in May
for smashing a shelf in the fighters' communal bathroom after
losing a bout.
Magaki, the head of the "stable," or training gym, that
Wakanoho belongs to, was ordered to take a salary cut in May
for beating a junior wrestler with a bamboo sword. Magaki
stepped down as a member of the sumo board on Thursday.
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