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Friday, 23rd May 2008
In Sports,

Bulgarian wrestler achieves "stunning" sumo victory

Bulgarian sumo wrestler Kotooshu achieved a "stunning" victory during a match in Tokyo on Thursday.

Successfully competing against Hakuho, the current grand champion, the Bulgarian now has a chance to become the first European sumo wrestler to win the sport's coveted Emperor's Cup, the Mainichi Daily News claims.

Held at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, the event saw the Bulgarian sumo wrestler taking his 12th consecutive victory, a feat that sent the stadium crowd wild.

During an earlier event Kotooshu also defeated the Mongolian wrestler Asashoryu, another grand champion of sumo.

Japan's national sport, sumo has a history that goes back hundreds of years and has many connections with the country's Shinto faith.

The rules of the game are simple - a wrestler can win a match if he is able to force his opponent to touch the floor with any part of the body other than the feet. A wrestler will also lose if they are the first to leave the ring.