Yokuzuna Terunofuji survived a close contest against slippery No. 2 maegashira Ura to improve to a perfect 4-0 at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
It is held in Tokyo, Japan.
Bidding for his third straight championship, Terunofuji needed patience and poise on Day 4 against the nimble rank-and-filer, who upset ozeki Takakeisho the previous day.
Terunofuji snared Ura (1-3) in an arm lock on his second attempt, but the maegashira snuck out of the hold, knocked the Mongolian-born grand champion off balance and drove him to the edge.
With no margin for error, Terunofuji teetered briefly on one leg, but staved off defeat by managing to bring his left foot down inside the straw.
From there, Terunofuji took the action back to the middle and eventually thrust Ura down to the clay after the maegashira’s attempt at a slap-down backfired.
With the victory, the sport’s sole grand champion extended his winning streak to 22 consecutive bouts, dating back to last September’s grand tournament.
