Injury-hampered ozeki Tochinoshin withdrew from the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday following a fifth straight loss the previous day.
According to his stablemaster Kasugano, Tochinoshin has been unable to overcome lingering pain in his right knee, along with a left-shoulder injury suffered before the start of the 15-day tournament at Dolphins Arena.
The Georgian-born grappler dropped to 0-5 for the tournament after being soundly beaten by No. 1 maegashira, Asanoyama, on Thursday.
"Yesterday was another overwhelming loss. He has been doing his best to fight through the pain, but he's not even at half strength," Kasugano said.
(Asanoyama (L) condemns Tochinoshin to his fifth straight loss)
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Tochinoshin will forfeit his scheduled bout against komusubi Abi on Day 6, leaving him with a 0-6 record at the 15-day tournament.
If he is unable to re-enter the meet and post a winning record, he will start the next tournament as a relegation-threatened "kadoban" ozeki for the third time.
The 31-year-old pulled out of the New Year Grand Tournament in January after opening with five straight losses.
He was demoted from ozeki to sekiwake after finishing the Spring Grand Tournament with a losing record, but immediately won promotion back to sumo's second-highest rank with a 10-5 finish at the subsequent summer basho.
