Japanese police arrest trainer and three wrestlers in sumo death
By The Associated Press
TOKYO - Japanese police arrested a former sumo trainer Thursday over the death of a 17-year-old wrestler after an alleged beating during training camp last June, officials said.
Tokitsukaze, 57, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto, and three wrestlers are suspected of inflicting bodily injuries resulting in the death of Tokitaizan, whose real name was Takashi Saito.
A spokesman for Aichi prefectural police in central Japan said the four were arrested but no other details could be released immediately. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
Tokitsukaze allegedly hit Tokitaizan over the head with a beer bottle on June 25, 2007, at a sumo training facility after the wrestler tried to flee.
The former trainer is suspected of ordering three senior wrestlers to assault Tokitaizan. They then attacked the victim, including beating him with a metal baseball bat.
Japan’s sumo association fired the trainer in October.
An autopsy showed Saito’s body had bruises and wounds that did not appear consistent with those sustained in normal sumo training.
Tokitsukaze admitted he struck Saito on the head with a beer bottle the day before he died, and forced him to train so hard that he could barely stand on the day of his death.
The boy’s father told reporters that his son fled from the training facility twice - once in mid-June and again on the day before his death - but did not say he had been bullied or assaulted.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080207/sports/misc_sumo_death
Uh, that’s not how you train sumo. RIP