Sumowrestling Wiki
in: Mongolian Sumo Wrestlers, Juryo, Non-Japanese Sumo Wrestlers,
and 10 more

Sakigake Takeshi

Edit

Sakigake Takeshi - 魁 猛 (born April 5, 1986) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in May 2003 and last wrestled for Shibatayama stable. He reached the juryo division in January 2014. His highest rank was juryo 10 and he retired in March 2022.

Early Life[]

Battushig Yagaanbaataryn was born the youngest of four brothers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. His family ran a road construction company. Prior to coming to Japan, Yagaanbaataryn had no experience with sumo and played basketball and soccer. He at first wanted to become a doctor, but his father was acquaintances with former komusubi Kyokushuzan who encouraged Yagaanbaataryn to try out sumo.[1] As a result, he went to a sumo tryout and was ultimately accepted by Hanaregoma stable.[2]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Sakigakeunsalaried

Sakigake prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2013)

Yagaanbaataryn made his professional debut in May 2003 under the shikona "Wakatora" (若虎). Wakatora had a rather slow start in his sumo career. He spent two years in jonidan where he did not produce spectacular results. He reached sandanme in 2005 and became a sandanme regular for around four years. In the January 2008 tournament, he was given the shikona "Sakigake" (魁). Sakigake was promoted to makushita for the March 2009 tournament after six years in professional sumo.[3]

Sakigake bounced between the makushita and sandanme divisions for about a year before establishing himself in makushita in November 2010. In January 2013, his stablemaster Hanaregoma Oyakata (former ozeki Kaiketsu) retired upon reaching the mandatory retirement age, leading to the closure of Hanaregoma stable. All wrestlers, including Sakigake, were transferred to Shibatayama stable.[4] There, with more experienced training partners, Sakigake began producing stronger results. After posting back-to-back 6–1 records, he was promoted to the highly competitive makushita 2 rank in May 2013. He stood at 3–3 going into the final day but lost to juryo-ranked Kizenryu, finishing 3–4.[3]

He remained in the upper makushita ranks and was promoted to makushita 1 in September 2013. Once again, he went into the final day with a 3–3 record and lost to juryo-ranked Kitaharima, finishing 3–4. Consequently, he was relegated to makushita 4 for the November 2013 tournament, where he defeated juryo-ranked Akiseyama and finished 4–3. This performance earned him promotion to the salaried juryo division for the January 2014 tournament.[3]

Juryo Career[]

Sakigake2015

Sakigake during the juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2015)

The 63 tournaments it took Sakigake to reach juryo is the third slowest progress for a foreign wrestler to reach the elite sekitori ranks. Sakigake made his juryo debut in January 2014 and produced a losing record of 6-9. He was relegated back down to the makushita division for the following March 2014 tournament and immediately earn promotion back to juryo for the May 2014 tournament. In his return back to juryo, Sakigake produced another 6-9 record and was again demoted back down to makushita for the July 2014 tournament. He produced a strong 6-1 record and was promoted back to juryo for the September 2014 tournament. He would remain in juryo for three tournaments before getting demoted back down to makushita in March 2015.[3]

Sakigake would remain in makushita for another five years where he would produce mixed results. In 2018, Sakigake started to slump and almost fell out of the makushita division. He would bounce back by producing some winning results and in November 2019, Sakigake was promoted back to the top of makushita. In this tournament he defeated juryo-ranked and ex-komusubi Gagamaru and finished with a 4-3 record. He was promoted back to juryo for January 2020 after a 30 tournament absence. However, he finished with a 6-9 record and was demoted back to makushita for the following tournament. Sakigake never managed to produce a winning record in his six tournaments as a sekitori. In January 2021, Sakigake won a nine-man playoff for the makushita yusho.[3]

Retirement from Sumo[]

After winning the makushita yusho in January 2021, Sakigake's sumo declined and he was eventually demoted down to sandanme in March 2022. He finished with a poor 2-5 record in this tournament and announced his retirement on March 30, 2022.[5] His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on April 17, 2022, and he plans to be engaged in trade-related work after retirement from sumo.[6]

Personal Life[]

  • Sakigake's favorite food is curry from his stable and his hobby is watching soccer.[2] The sumo wrestlers that he admires are Kisenosato and Wakanosato.[7]
  • Sakigake served as yokozuna Kisenosato's tsukebito, or personal servant, from January 2017 to Kisenosato's retirement in January 2019.[8]
  • In addition to being fluent in Mongolian and Japanese, Sakigake also speaks some Russian and English.[2]
  • In 2012, Sakigake felt that his sumo was not going anywhere and was contemplating retirement. This news leaked back to his home country and as a result, Sakigake's brother encouraged him to "try sumo for another year". This advice proved useful as Sakigake would earn a promotion to juryo two years later.[9]

Fighting Style[]

Sakigake's Fighting Style 3

Sakigake defeats Kotoeko by yorikiri (force out)

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, Sakigake is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt.[10] However, his most common winning kimarite or technique is yorikiri or a straightforward force out, which accounts for 50% of his total victories, while oshidashi, or push out (the technique that pusher/thrusters prefer), only accounts for 6% of his total victories.[11]

Record[]

Division Results[]

  • Total: 417-408/825 (112 basho)
  • Juryo: 35-55/90 (6 basho)
  • Makushita: 232-223/455 (65 basho)
  • Sandanme: 106-97/203 (29 basho)
  • Jonidan: 40-30/70 (10 basho)
  • Jonokuchi: 4-3/7 (1 basho)

Championships[]

  • 1 Makushita Championship (January 2021)

Achievements[]

  • Record: 3rd Slowest progress to the juryo division for a foreign wrestler (63)

Shikona History[]

  • Wakatora Takeshi (2003.05 - 2007.11)
  • Sakigake Takeshi (2008.01 - 2022.03)

Gallery[]

JSA Profile Pictures and Tegata[]

Career Overview[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

References[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.