Hakuho accomplished yet another feat by tying late yokozuna Chiyonofuji with 1,045 career victories after beating fourth-ranked maegashira Kagayaki at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday.

Yokozuna Hakuho remained peerless at the 15-day tournament and en route to his 39th championship by improving to a perfect 9-0 with an easy win over Kagayaki, whom he slammed to the dirt in their first career meeting.

sumo

Hakuho moved within two wins of former ozeki Kaio's all-time record, which, barring injury or some unforeseen event, will almost certainly be rewritten by the end of the tourney.

The victory stood Hakuho side by side with one of sumo's legends in Chiyonofuji, who passed away in July last year. The 32-year-old Hakuho, now the winningest yokozuna ever, is three years younger than Chiyonofuji was at the time of his final victory.

Hakuho, who will face No. 5 maegashira Chiyoshoma (4-5) on Tuesday, said Chiyonofuji's mark had been his target for the meet all long. Chiyoshoma on Monday defeated ozeki Goeido (5-4)

"This was my goal for this tournament," said Hakuho, who was given a bouquet of flowers and waved to the crowd at Aichi Prefectural Gynasium on his way back to the dressing rooms.

"I'm glad to have gotten it done so fast. (Chiyonofuji) looked after me, and winning tomorrow and surpassing him will be a way of giving back to him."

The Miyagino stable wrestler is one win ahead of No. 8 Aoiyama in the title race here and two ahead of a pack of four, including new ozeki Takayasu.

Aoiyama rebounded from his first defeat of the tourney a day earlier, but cut it close as the judges had to convene over his win against No. 11 Chiyonokuni (3-6).

Chiyonokuni, his face bloodied after taking a hard slap to the face, appeared to have sent Aoiyama tumbling to his second loss. But the judges caught Chiyonokuni stepping out of the ring before his opponent hit the ground, declaring Aoiyama the winner.

"I was sure I saw his foot go out first, so I'm glad that was confirmed and I was able to win," Aoiyama said. "The big thing is to stay focused and wrestle well, and keep doing that each and every day."

Takayasu, who had won seven straight after losing on the first day, failed to put up much of a fight against komusubi Yoshikaze (5-4). After locking horns at the tachiai, Yoshikaze got a firm grip on the belt and simply pushed Takayasu out with minimal resistance from the ozeki.

The other yokozuna in the field, Harumafuji (6-3), was stunned by fourth-ranked Ura (6-3), who earned his first career victory over a grand champion.