Hot Springs, Ark. (KATV) — Arkansas’ first sumo tournament will be held Friday evening at Bank OZK Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center and features sumo wrestlers billed as the world’s heaviest and widest.
If you’re wondering why Hot Springs is hosting an all-star sumo wrestling tournament, it’s because of its sister-city relationship with the city of Hanamaki in Japan.
The tournament on Friday precedes Saturday’s Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual celebration of Japanese culture and Hot Springs’ relationship with Hanamaki.
“This year, we wanted to take it up a notch, and so we have the Cherry Blossom Cup, which will be awarded to the winner. We have six sumo professionals in town for this,” said Mary Zunick, cultural affairs manager for Visit Hot Springs.
“Three of them were in the very top couple divisions of pro-sumo; the other guys have won titles all over the world in international sumo. And so, these guys are pretty much the most elite competitors you’ll find,” Director of USA Sumo Andrew Freund told KATV.
Hiroki, billed as the world’s heaviest sumo at 570 pounds, might look familiar to you. He starred in John Wick 4 and Netflix’s critically acclaimed sumo drama, “Sanctuary.”
We caught up with Hiroki and the other sumos as they warmed up for Friday’s tournament. Freund kindly translated for us.
“It’s really important to share sumo all over the world. And people internationally, when they think of Japan, they think of sumo, sushi, sake, and so I’m really happy to be part of that element of sharing sumo all over the world,” Hiroki told KATV.
We also spoke with Fumiya, billed as the widest sumo in the world.
“Tomorrow I want to use all my power, win the tournament, become the champion, make all the fans happy, then go into the hot springs,” said Fumiya.
Though he isn’t the largest competitor, Mongolian sumo Mendsaikhan is one of the most skilled and is the current U.S. Sumo Open champion.
“Every people interested in sumo, that is very amazing sport. Maybe soon very famous sport in USA,” Mendsaikhan told KATV.
KATV reporter Andrew Mobley decided to challenge one of the smaller sumos, named Waka, to a match. It didn’t end well.
Tickets to attend Friday’s sumo tournament can be found here.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., leading up to matches starting at 7:30 p.m.
