Police found marijuana in Soslan "Wakanoho" Gagloev's wallet
Wakanoho could face up to five years in prison if convicted
By Kyung Lah
CNN
[B]TOKYO, Japan (CNN)[/B] -- For the first time sumo wrestling's governing body can recall, one of its revered athletes has been nabbed for drug possession.
Police arrested 335-pound Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev -- better known as Wakanoho -- on Monday. They say they found a third of a gram of marijuana in his wallet. That's enough to land him in prison on a diet of forced labor for five years if he's convicted.
It's the latest black eye for a sport closely intwined with Japanese culture and history. Fans have long expected humility and dignity from their sumo wrestlers, so the drug arrest has stunned people in Japan, where the national sport has taken a beating in the last year or so.
First, police charged three sumo wrestlers and their stable master with beating a teenage sumo to death last year. They deny it.
Then Japan's top sumo -- Asashoryu -- apologized on national TV after being caught in an apparent lie. He pulled out of an exhibition tournament, saying he was hurt. But television cameras caught him playing soccer in his native Mongolia days later, apparently without injury.
The Japan Sumo Association suspended Asashoryu -- the first time the country's yokozuna , or top sumo, has received that punishment.
Now comes the drug arrest.
Police say they found marijuana in Wakanoho's wallet on June 24 and arrested him Monday after an investigation. The 20-year-old Russian wrester, who stands six feet four inches, has not entered a plea, authorities said. But the arrest prompted the Japan Sumo Association to apologize to fans and pledge to investigate.
Sumo wrestling, which traces it roots back 1,500 years, is struggling not just within its ranks, but in popularity, as well.
Fewer Japanese boys are entering the tough life of sumo, so the Sumo Association is recruiting foreigners like Wakanoho and Asashoryu. Attendance is down at the stadiums, as more Japanese embrace soccer and baseball.
All these struggles may have a silver lining.
"These allegations, be they true or false, this one included, they're all turning points to a more open sumo," says Mark Buckton, a sumo analyst for the Japan Times. "It's good for the sport in the end. It can open up the sport, make them follow modern society."
I think I understand now. CNN must have omitted a sentence between this one:
They say they found a third of a gram of marijuana in his wallet.
and this one:
That’s enough to land him in prison on a diet of forced labor for five years if he’s convicted.
It probably went like this:
However most of the confiscated cannabis, about 2 and 1/2 kilograms, was found partially cooked in a huge bowl of miso soup, which he was about to eat sitting infront of a fireplace heated with the rest of the weed.
Zhat’s because of all the Auslander zhey let into zhe holy ancient national sport…
Where are zhe good times when you had to be a Japanese besides being huuuuuge to become a sumoka.
Lifetime bans handed out over alleged use of marijuana
Russian brothers tested positive for drug last month
Head of Japan's Sumo Association resigns over charges
[B]TOKYO, Japan (AP)[/B] -- Two popular Russian sumo wrestlers were slapped with lifetime bans from Japan's ancient national sport for allegedly using marijuana and the head of the Japan Sumo Association resigned Monday to take responsibility for the scandal, officials said.
The wrestlers, brothers Roho and Hakurozan, tested positive for the drug when the sport conducted its first drug tests following the arrest last month of another Russian wrestler, Wakanoho, for marijuana possession.
The scandal has rocked the sumo world, which has its roots in religious ritual and tends to hold its athletes and officials to high moral standards. Marijuana possession is considered a serious offense in Japan, and the scandal has been front-page news.
The punishment was handed out at an emergency meeting of top sumo officials Monday, according to the Japan Sumo Association.
Kitanoumi, the association's chairman and Hakurozan's mentor, also told the meeting that he would resign to take responsibility. Kitanoumi is a former grand champion wrestler who is considered by many to have been one of the best ever.
"It was my decision to resign," Kitanoumi said. He will be replaced by another former wrestler, Musashigawa.
Sumo wrestlers in Japan are usually known by a single fighting name.
Sumo's current crisis began last month with the arrest and subsequent lifetime ban on Wakanoho, whom police said had a small amount of marijuana in his wallet.
Wakanoho was the first wrestler ever to be ejected from sumo for drug use. His real name is listed by the sumo association as Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev.
The association then held tests on all 69 of its top two division wrestlers and found Roho and Hakurozan positive for the drug.
A second test was done by a Japanese laboratory internationally certified to conduct doping tests, Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corp. Results released Friday showed the two consumed the drug in amounts far beyond what could be inhaled from secondhand smoke, sumo association spokesman Yuichi Ida said.
Roho, whose real name was listed by the association as Boradzov Soslan Feliksovich, is in sumo's top division, while Hakurozan -- who was listed as Baradzov Batraz Feliksovich -- is in the next-highest tier.
Roho and Hakurozan have repeatedly denied using the drug.
Kitanoumi said he had been assured by Hakurozan that he had not used marijuana.
"He had told me he had not used it, and I believed him," he said.
Police have questioned the two wrestlers and searched their rooms. It was not immediately clear if any further legal action would be taken. Unlike possessing or selling the drug, it is not illegal to be found to have used it.