A 21-year-old Ukrainian sumo wrestler who fled Russian invasion has won an elite-level sumo tournament in Japan, winning praise for his rapid rise in the competitive sport.
Yabufushishin Danilo, known by his ring name “Aonishiki,” won the November Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, according to state broadcaster NHK. In the deciding match, he defeated Shoryu Toyo, a top-notch sumo wrestler from Mongolia.
According to NHK, Aonishiki said after winning, “It’s a feeling I can’t express in words.” “I felt like I was relying on my body and doing it on my own. I diligently did what my master told me to do, which led to this result.”
His victory capped a meteoric rise in a sport defined by ritual and tradition in the three years since the 21-year-old arrived in Japan while his home country was ravaged by war.
He started wrestling and judo as a child in Ukraine, where martial arts have long been popular. The country boasts a long list of wrestlers who have won medals at the Olympics. According to the CNN affiliate Asahi Shimbun, he turned to sumo when he was 7 years old after seeing sumo wrestlers practicing at a judo hall.
He quickly showed talent for the sport and at just 15 years old, he placed third in the Junior World Sumo Championships in Japan, where he befriended Japanese sumo wrestler Arata Yamanaka.
Then, in 2022, everything came to a shuddering halt when Russia invaded Ukraine. Wrestling facilities were destroyed and the players and their families fled the country, including Aonishiki, who moved with his family to Germany.
“I thought it would be a waste to end my sports career there,” Aonishiki told NHK in a documentary about his journey that aired in July. “I loved sumo, so I decided to pursue sumo as my chosen career path.”
So, at the age of 18, he came to Japan on his own. So his friend Yamanaka, who was captain of Kansai University’s sumo club at the time, offered to let Aonishiki live at his parents’ house and arranged for the Ukrainian to practice with the university’s club.
His ring name means “blue”, one of the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Aonishiki began to rebuild his career in a new country and new language. He soon learned to speak Japanese fluently and rose through the ranks in record time, defeating his fellow collegiate sumo wrestlers despite not being the biggest or largest (he weighed only 140 kilograms, or 308 pounds, lower than the average for elite wrestlers).
He eventually entered the Tokyo-based Ajigawa stable to live, train, and compete professionally. By Sunday’s place, he had reached the third-highest ranking among sekiwakes after only 13 places. This is a record pace in a sport where rankings change frequently and wrestlers can be promoted or demoted depending on match performance.
According to NHK, after Aonishiki’s victory on Sunday, the national sumo governing body held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the possibility of promotion to ozeki, the second-highest title.
But the Ukrainian wrestler is aiming for another level. “There’s one more place up, so I want to aim for that,” he said with his eyes firmly set on the pinnacle of yokozuna.
