About 30 amateur wrestlers belong to the Thai Sumo Association. The group was founded in Bangkok in 1993 by the International Sumo Federation and a handful of Japanese expatriates living here.

   Today, the club’s president, Sumio Kurasawa, is its sole sponsor. As a younger man, Kurasawa, the president of Tokyodo Books, was one of Japan’s national wrestlers.

   Kurasawa and another former national wrestler serve as the association’s coaches. They train aspiring sumo wrestlers, as well as Thailand’s national team’s wrestlers, and choose the country’s representatives for national and international sumo competitions.

   Each year, Thailand’s national team attends three competitions in the amateur category; the Sumo Championship (Thai-Japan) in Thailand, the Asian Sumo Champion in Japan and the World Sumo Championship. The world championship is held in different country in each year.

   Thailand’s sumo wrestlers aren’t wimps. They rank third in the amateur category among 20 Asian countries.

   So, why don’t more Thais try sumo wrestling? The costume for sumo wrestlers – the mawashi – may be a reason that Thais shy away from the sport, says Wimol Chourungmeetee, one of Thailand’s national sumo wrestlers.

   The mawashi is a belt that wraps around the sumo wrestler’s waist and is fastened in the back with a large knot. It’s wound in such a way that it protects the wrestler’s genitals while offering the combatants a hold.

   Many Thais think that sumo is just for men, but it’s for everyone, says Kurasawa, who began wrestling when he was 12. “Women and kids can enjoy it, and the wrestlers don’t have to be big and fat,” he notes. “Skill and technique are required to win competitions.”

   Wimol, who won a gold medal at the Asian Sumo Competition in 2002, agrees, saying that a big body and strength don’t necessarily guarantee victory.

   There are four weight divisions; lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight and open weight.

   The rules are simple. Two contenders fight in a circular 455-centimetre ring until one person is forced out of the ring or one wrestler touches the floor with some part of his body other than his soles.

   For more details, contact the Thai Sumo Association at (06) 535 6770, or visit a sumo class from 1pm to 4pm on Sundays on the third floor of Seri Centre on Srinakarin Road.

   Suwicha Chanitnun

   Rojana Manowalailao

   The Nation

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   Japan makes an effort to revive sumo wrestling

   In a bid to increase the popularity of sumo wrestling, Japan’s national sport, the Japan Sumo Association plans to train and certify prospective sumo instructors.

   The association will hold its first instructors’ training session in Tokyo on Friday. Former sumo wrestlers with more than five years of experience, who fought in the sandanme division (sumo’s fourth-highest division of the six), are eligible as are former wrestlers from higher classifications.

   This will be the first time the association will certify instructors other than those belonging to professional sumo stables.

   Sumo wrestling in Japan is in decline. In 2002, there were only 1,691 dohyo, or sumo wrestling rings, in primary, middle and high schools in Japan. There were 2,239 dohyo in 1969, according to the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.

   “Sumo is part of Japan’s traditional culture,” says stablemaster Isenoumi, (former sekiwake Fujinokawa) who is in charge of the association’s campaign to rebuild the sport’s popularity. “Primary and middle-school students should get more chances to wrestle on the dohyo. To do so, they need more sumo instructors.”

   The association is holding Friday’s show in the sport’s spiritual home, Kokugikan Arena. It hopes to convince many of the 1,400 professional wrestlers who have retired during the past decade to rejoin the sport.

   “The certificates should give instructors more credibility when they open stables and teach at city halls in the regions,” Isenoumi said. Participants will get certificates after passing a written test at the end of the programme.

   Yomiuri Shimbun

   Tokyo, Japan