For a sport still reeling from gambling, drug-use and even wrongful death scandals, having such low-ranked rikishi with a lengthy record of just-barely-above mediocre performances (in what was, until the Kisenosato/Baruto bout, a rancid tournament) is a flash of good fortune.
Bad news for the sumo purists who long for the great days of yore: Kyokutenho, though possessing Japanese citizenship, is still Mongolia-born, extending his countrymen's crushing domination of the sport for the last six years. (E)