Kakuryū
| Kakuryū Rikisaburō | |
|---|---|
| 鶴竜 力三郎 | |
 |
|
| Personal information | |
| Born | Mangaljalavyn Anand August 10, 1985 Mongolia |
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 155 kg (342 lb; 24.4 st) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Izutsu |
| Current rank | Yokozuna |
| Debut | November, 2001 |
| Highest rank | Yokozuna (March, 2014) |
| Championships | 3 (Makuuchi) 1 (Sandanme) |
| Special Prizes | Technique (7), Outstanding Performance (2) |
| * Up to date as of Jan 18, 2017. | |
Kakuryū Rikisaburō (born August 10, 1985, as Mangaljalavyn Anand, Mongolian: Мангалжалавын Ананд) is a professional sumo wrestler from Sükhbaatar Province, Mongolia. He has been a member of the top makuuchi division since November 2006 and has earned nine special prizes, seven of those for technique. He reached the third highest sekiwake rank in July 2009, and in March 2012 he secured promotion to the second highest rank of ōzeki after finishing runner-up to yokozuna Hakuhō and accumulating a total of 33 wins in his previous three tournaments. After scoring 14 wins against one loss in both of the first two tournaments of 2014, and claiming the yūshō in the second, he was promoted to yokozuna. He won his second tournament as a yokozuna, a playoff win over Terunofuji in September 2015, but did not win more than 12 bouts in a tournament at yokozuna rank until winning his third tournament in November 2016.
Kakuryū Rikisaburō was born August 10, 1985, as Mangaljalavyn Anand. His father was a university professor and he grew up dreaming of professional basketball, not sumo. At age 14, he decided to devote himself to sumo after seeing a tournament featuring fellow Mongolians Kyokutenhō and Kyokushūzan on TV. He wrote a letter about his desires and had a friend translate it into Japanese. He then mailed the letter to several stables in Japan. Izutsu stable's head was impressed and invited Kakuryū to Japan. Kakuryū's family had no background in Mongolian wrestling, and he had no experience in wrestling before coming to Japan.
When Kakuryū joined Izutsu stable, he weighed just 65 kg (143 lb) and his oyakata former sekiwake Sakahoko joked he was better suited to be the stable's tokoyama (hairdresser) than a wrestler. Kakuryū made his professional debut at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in November 2001, then weighing 82 kg (181 lb). After reaching the fourth highest sandanme division fairly quickly, he struggled, being demoted back to jonidan twice. After 17 tournaments, he finally won the sandanme championship in July 2004 with a 7–0 record and earned promotion to the makushita division.
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