2002

Panayotopoulos (181 pounds) tries to move U.S. SUMO Barber (460 pounds) in the Openweight round. OPEN Crash of the Titans By Adam J. Lee Photos by K&M Digital Photo Fans at the second annual U.S. Sumo Open on August 25, 2002 at UCLA, were impressed to see 50 sumo wrestlers from 13 countries crash

Lightweight Jason Maron lifts out together in a fierce competition, dominated by Peter Panayotopoulos. foreign teams.

n 2001, visiting champions from three Japanese universities destroyed the field at the first annual competition, but in 2002, the Japanese presence was limited. However, although the large and game American squad gave it their all, the out- come was little changed as they were knocked around by the visiting European I teams this time! There were several upsets in the competition, but the most astounding was the dominance of Estonian middleweight Aap Uspenski, who won both the Middleweight and Openweight competitions, defeating opponents twice his weight in the process. American men did very well in the Lightweight class, but failed to even medal in the Middleweight or Heavyweight, although middleweight Troy Collins did grab the Openweight bronze medal. While most Americans are familiar with Japanese professional sumo, where there are no weight classes, international amateur sumo has changed the face (and body) of the sport. With three weight classes for men and three for women, we can watch ath- letes of all sizes and genders compete. Nevertheless, the Openweight class, where all sizes compete together, proved the most entertaining. Jack Men’s Lightweight (85 kg/187 pounds) Keener is smashed Although the Lightweight field was quite diverse, athletes from Japan, Vietnam, out by Troy Mongolia, Bulgaria, and Australia were eliminated early, leaving four Americans in the Collins. semi-finals — Trevor Roberts, Jason Maron, Trent Sabo, and Peter Panayotopoulos, all

36 • GRAPPLING Samoan Asi Faoa (right) grabs the belt of LAPD officer Mark Mireles.

U.S. Champion Mahshid Tarazi gives up a belt grip to Estonian Viktoria Kuznetsova.

833 pounds collide as Madis Ounapuu meets Gyula Bujtas.

Estonian Erge Nugis gets a American Joe Butler quick belt grip on 108-pound grabs the leg of Polish May Chung of Hong Kong. Wojciech Poczta.

GRAPPLING • 37 2002 U.S. SUMO OPEN with freestyle wrestling backgrounds. Peter Debelak (left) gets slammed back by Gold medalist Roberts went undefeated, Lightweight champion beating his opponents with lightning-fast Trevor Roberts. thrusting attacks, catching them off bal- ance, and knocking them down and out. He won each match in under 10 seconds. At 177 pounds, Roberts was followed by 176-pound Maron and 185-pound Sabo. Roberts was philosophical about his victory, “I just went out as hard and fast as possible — there were a lot of close matches.” Men’s Middleweight (115 kg/253 pounds) With 16 competitors, the Mid- dleweight class featured some intense bouts. Former U.S. freestyle wrestling champion and local favorite Joe Butler didn’t even advance to the quarter-finals, but American newcomers Joe Davis (215 pounds), Jack Keener (253 pounds), and Troy Collins (245 pounds) did. Only Keener made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Aap Uspenski. Samoan Asi Faoa faced Marek Paczkow of Poland in the other semi-final match. Faoa, the only Samoan in the tour- nament, drew enormous crowd support for his fierce stares, wild hair, and pre-bout psyche-out screams. Uspenski, who went 12-1 for the day, later said that Faoa was his biggest fear, and it was an accurate assessment, as his only loss all day was to

Heavyweight Champion Petar Stoyanov (340 pounds) clashes with Juri Uustalu (430 pounds).

38 • GRAPPLING Faoa, in the preliminary rounds. of seven Americans made it to the semi- Faoa, despite his speed, strength, and finals. Jeff Haywood, a 350-pound foot- physical prowess, lacked experience and it ball standout, hurt his knee against Bul- cost him against Paczkow, the former garian Petar Stoyanov in his semi-final World Championship bronze medalist. match, and so missed the only chance for At the start, Paczkow went in low, grab- an American Heavyweight medal. In the bing Faoa’s right leg. Faoa managed to other semi-final match, 357-pound Barn- keep his balance as they struggled around abas Toth of Hungary put up an incred- the ring, but Paczkow wouldn’t let go and ible fight against 460-pound Madis soon forced Faoa out. Faoa went on to Ounapuu of Estonia. Toth, at 5’9”, was win the third place match against Jack dwarfed by 6’5” Ounapuu, but Toth Keener, the current U.S. Sumo Mid- smashed him back at the start. Moving dleweight Champion. constantly, Toth caught the larger man Middleweight finalists Uspenski and off balance, grabbed the belt and strug- Paczkow knew each other’s styles and had gled to push Ounapuu out. Ounapuu, fought many times before. All day long at trying for a belt grip, side-stepped and the U.S. Sumo Open, Uspenski defeated avoided the attack, but Toth kept him opponents by getting both hands inside on going back and almost forced him out his opponents’ belts as soon as the matches again. For nearly a minute, Toth fought began. Keeping elbows in and head low, relentlessly, grabbing, pushing, and Uspenski would force his foes back. Try as smashing with his head, while Ounapuu they might, his opponents couldn’t escape struggled to stay alive. Finally, the bigger once he got his grip on their belts. As the man got a belt grip, got his balance, and current World Sumo Championship silver May Chung of Hong Kong celebrates her bumped Toth out. Lightweight gold medal. medalist, his experience and consistent This set up a final match between strategy proved very effective. Paczkow’s onslaught by stepping back and long-time rivals Ounapuu and Stoyanov Paczkow, on the other hand, favored a to the side. Paczkow, off-balance, fell for- of Bulgaria. Stoyanov, the current Euro- more football-like charge, thrusting for- ward and hit the ground, giving Uspenski pean champion, weighed in at “only” 340 ward and knocking his opponents out his first gold medal of the day. pounds, but at 6’6” he was even taller before they could grab his belt. He obvi- than Ounapuu, and very muscular. Stoy- ously knew what Uspenski would try, so at Men’s Heavyweight anov kept a low center of balance, with the start he lunged forward, elbows tucked (over 115 kg/253 pounds) legs wide and knees bent. Getting a good in, keeping Uspenski’s arms away from his The early Heavyweight rounds sepa- belt grip, he pushed upward and forced belt. Uspenski, unable to get inside, took rated the men from the boys, as only one Continued on page 96

Double gold medalist Aap Uspenski holds his ground against Jack Keener’s slapping attack.

U.S. Sumo Open director Andrew Freund announces pre-event ceremonies.

GRAPPLING • 39 2002 U.S. SUMO OPEN maintained an outside belt grip. Continued from page 39 Uspenski, in a superior position, forced Collins back slowly. Collins struggled to Ounapuu back and out. After a contro- keep low as he back-pedaled, but versial earlier victory against Ounapuu’s Uspenski kept him by the edge and countryman, 430-pound Juri Uustalu, Collins finally fell straight back with the Bulgarian Stoyanov was fortunate to Uspenski’s weight on top. avoid Estonian revenge. Meanwhile, Barnabas Toth defeated his Hungarian countryman Gyula Bujtas Men’s Openweight in the other semi-final match, so 245- Heavyweight champion Petar Stoy- pound Collins faced the 377-pound anov was upset, though, in the Open- Bujtas in the third place match. This weight competition by “little” Joe Davis, time, Collins stayed low, got inside, and a former college football player, 5’9” and forced Bujtas out. So Collins, an LAPD 215 pounds. Davis, however, was officer and long-time freestyle wrestler, matched up against Uspenski for the managed to get the only male American second time and lost to him again. The medal outside of the Lightweight class. funniest Openweight match was 157- The Openweight final match was truly pound Hiroshi Yamashita of Japan and the icing on the cake. Middleweight

International Sumo Champions pose before the competition.

460-pound American Marcus Barber. champion Aap Uspenski (231 pounds) Yamashita made a valiant charge, strug- faced Heavyweight bronze medalist Barn- gling to topple Barber, but Barber held abas Toth (357 pounds). Toth displayed his ground and soon swept Yamashita to tremendous energy and balance against the ground. Yamashita did get his share of several heavyweight behemoths, but he cheers, though, for his ferocious attempt. was facing a superb technician in He had vowed to topple a “big man” Uspenski. While most athletes had been before the event, but offered a gracious “I taking just a minute for pre-bout rituals did my best,” in defeat. and stare-downs, Uspenski took over 3 While not all of the athletes entered minutes, slowly stretching, facing his the Openweight, a lot of the top athletes opponent, and focusing. Some creative did. Four American hopefuls — 460- American fans began a chant of “Beat pound Barber, 253-pound Keener, 220- him, Aap!” but the pun may have been pound Francis Deramos, and 215-pound lost on the Estonian contingent. Davis — were eliminated in the quarter- At the get-go, both men went for the finals, leaving Troy Collins as the sole belt, and each managed one hand inside American with Openweight medal hopes. and one hand outside. Uspenski, however, Collins, at 245 pounds, faced the stayed lower, forcing his head into the indomitable 231-pound Uspenski in the much broader Toth, and leaned on him. semi-finals. Uspenski got his usual inside Toth also leaned forward and tried to reach grip in a split-second, while Collins Continued on page 98

96 • GRAPPLING 2002 U.S. SUMO OPEN the Americans, and especially the Cali- Continued from page 96 fornia Sumo Association athletes, in the last couple years. “CSA started practicing inside Uspenski’s grip, but the Estonian here at UCLA in 1998 with three mem- tightened his elbows and kept his iron bers. Since then, the program has grown hold on the belt. For a few moments, both to over 30 members.” men stood their ground, until Uspenski A lot of this is thanks to the presence of slowly made his move, forcing Toth back Svetoslav Binev, the two-time World Sumo inch by inch with superior leverage. Finally, Toth backed out of the ring, and Uspenski walked away with his second gold medal of the day. Significantly, two of the three Open- weight medalists were middleweights, showing that there is definitely a place for the “little” man in international sumo. After the event, the modest Uspenski Openweight medalists Toth (silver), commented, “I just tried to use the tech- Uspenski (gold), and Collins (bronze). nique that I know from (freestyle) Champion, who has been coaching the wrestling, to get inside. I was able to get CSA team since 2000. At the first U.S. good belt grips early.” Sumo Open in 2001, after just a few months of training, several of Binev’s stu- Women’s Matches dents beat much bigger visiting sumo While women’s sumo is very new, there wrestlers from Japan. “I see a lot of poten- were several impressive fights, including tial here in Los Angeles,” says Binev, for- Heavyweight and Openweight final merly the Bulgarian Sumo Team coach, matches between top members of the and an international sumo phenomenon Estonian team — Millie Sang and Viktoria himself. “With the right training, some of Kuznetsova, who both defeated all their these guys have potential to medal in the other opponents. Sang won the Heavy- World Sumo Championships.” weight and Kuznetsova the Openweight, But there is still a long way to go. with each of their epic duels against each Sumo here doesn’t have the same kind of other lasting almost two minutes, as they sponsorship and media coverage like clung tightly together, trying judo-like more traditional American pastimes. “We throws and trips. definitely need to develop a regular fan U.S. Sumo Champion Mahshid Tarazi base, stronger athletes, and serious spon- managed third place in the Heavyweight sors to bring the competition to the next class, and American Ashlee Irish was level,” says Freund. “There are a lot of second in the Lightweight. Crowd favorite interested people out there, so I think it’s May Chung of Hong Kong, at only 108 just a matter of time.” pounds, won the Lightweight division While pro Japanese sumo has no with superior strength, speed, and tech- weight classes, the new weight divisions nique. Chung, definitely not your typical and the addition of women’s sumo in sumo wrestler, medaled at last year’s event, international competition have made the and was proud to get the gold this year: sport more accessible to athletes and fans “I’m in good shape, so I feel I can beat alike. Sumo has been put up for Olympic bigger opponents,” she stated. consideration, so we’ll see if it becomes a As with American men, the American new Olympic sport in years to come. For women lagged behind the international American fans, though, the U.S. Sumo teams, but there is hope for the future. Open is a great and exciting start. Grappling

The Growth of American Sumo For more information on the U.S. Sumo U.S. Sumo Open director and Open and other sumo events and demon- announcer, Andrew Freund, was strations, call (310) 288-3641 or visit impressed by the rapid development of www.usasumo.com.

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