Sports Desk
TOKYO: Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese Sumo Association will stage a sumo tournament three days after the Olympics in an effort to make Japan’s traditional sport better known to the world.
The event, titled Grandsumo of Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, will take place at Ryogoku Kokugikan on August 12 to 13.
The Olympic Games will be held from July 24 to August 9 and the Paralympics from August 25 to September 6.
Toshiaki Endo, vice president of Tokyo 2020, said sumo is not only a Japanese sport, but a very important Japanese culture.
He said that English commentary will be provided during the competition to be watched by about 7,000 spectators every day.
The day’s press conference was attended by two Mongolian-born grand champions Hakuho and Kakuryu.
Hakuho’s father Jigjidiin Monkhbat competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a freestyle wrestler. He finished 7th but went on to win a silver in the 1968 Olympics, becoming Mongolia’s first Olympic medalist.
The sumo tournament reminds people of the 2008 Wushu Tournament, which was held during the Beijing Olympic Games by the organizers and the International Wushu Federation and the Chinese Wushu Association.
Wushu, which is also called martial arts, is a traditional Chinese sport and the International Wushu Federation has 152 members.
Many believed sumo was also originated in ancient China. It was described in detail in one of China’s most popular 14th-century novels, Water Margin.
Meanwhile, The Japan Sumo Association said on Tuesday that it will hold a two-day tournament in August as part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic cultural program.
Designed to bring more international attention to the Japanese traditional sport, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Grand Sumo Tournament will take place at Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in east Tokyo on Aug. 12 to 13, just days after the Olympics end.
