Japan’s sumo panel questions grand champion Harumafuji about bar brawl assault
Lower ranked competitor was taken to hospital with head injuries after it was alleged he was struck with a beer bottle
A crisis management team formed by Japanese sumo administrators questioned grand champion Harumafuji on Sunday for the first time over an assault on lower ranked competitor Takanoiwa during an alcohol-fuelled brawl late last month.
Panel head Toshio Takano did not say what the 33-year-old Mongolian yokozuna said in the two-hour interrogation, but pledged to “report as soon as possible” on the case.
The Japan Sumo Association had said earlier the panel would fully examine the case and hand down a judgment or punishment sometime after the ongoing Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament, which ends on November 26.
“He spoke in a matter-of-fact tone in line with what had happened. We listened to him faithfully,” Takano, a former prosecutor, told reporters after the questioning at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan hall.
It was the first time Harumafuji had spoken to the JSA panel since the sport’s governing body learned of the incident earlier this month. The team is tasked with looking into specific details of the incident, including whether, as reported, Harumafuji struck Takanoiwa in the head with a beer bottle.