Pacific Stars & Stripes, Saturday 13th September 1958 (Page 23)

Wakanohana Favored In Upcoming Sumo Meet

    TOKYO (UPI) - Thirty-year-old Wakanohana, who worked as a laborer in a railway depot, is a strong favorite to win the championship of the 15-day sumo tournament beginning in Tokyo Sunday.
    Wakanohana, currently the most popular sumo grappler in the country, was the center of attraction Thursday night when he attended a title fight between flyweight champion Sadao Yaoita and first ranking Filipino flyweight Leo Zuluetta for the Orient flyweight crown.
    He may be "small" as sumo grand champions go but he looked a giant as he occupied a ringside seat. According to the official statistics of the Japan Sumo Assn., Wakanohana is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 237 pounds.

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    WAKANOHANA, who won the tournament two months ago in Nagoya for the first time since he was promoted to the highest rank of yokozuna (grand champion), has been training hard to win two tourneys in a row.
    A "bonus" of 100,000 yen ($277.80) is given by the Sumo Assn. to the winner, plus numerous other prizes and gifts by commercial establishments and friends. A coal company, for instance, gives the winner a year's fuel supply.