During the exhibition matches held Aug. 19 and 20 in front of thousands of fans at the Taipei Arena, Asashoryu Akinori--originally Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj of Mongolia--the only active yokozuna, sumo's highest rank, became the first-day champion, while ozeki Tochiazuma Daisuke won the second day's title. In the grand final playoff between the two, Asashoryu won the overall title. The main upset occurred earlier in the day, however, when Asashoryu lost to Kotooshu Katsunori--originally Kaloyan Mahlyanov of Bulgaria--in the quarter-finals.
The 184cm, 148kg Asashoryu picked up a check for around US$30,000, plus a car and four plane tickets. Afterwards, he said the tickets would be useful as he hoped to bring his wife and two children back for a holiday when time allowed. A second Mongolian, Munkhbat Davaajargal, a.k.a. Hakuho Sho, is the sixth foreign-born wrestler to reach the second rank of ozeki.
Taiwanese sumo fans present at the event included Premier Su Tseng-chang and Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, while Taiwanese participation inside the dohyō was limited to wrestler Chiyotaikai Ryuji, whose grandfather was from Taiwan.
As soon as they arrived in Taiwan, the sumo stars had been received warmly by various top officials including President Chen Shui-bian and Su. During his Aug. 18 meeting with a number of wrestlers, Chen praised the players for introducing traditional Japanese culture and the samurai spirit to Taiwan and the world, from which people could learn the importance of etiquette and respect. He wished the guests a wonderful time during their stay in Taiwan.
That same day afternoon, Su welcomed the visitors to Taipei 101, where the reception area was decorated with Taiwan-grown fruit, a popular import among Japanese people, and one of the images chosen by Taiwanese people to represent the spirit and nature of Taiwan.
The wrestlers' visit showed "the strong cultural connection between Taiwan and Japan," Su said during the welcome ceremony, before he presented the wrestlers with gifts of local fruit and hand puppets.
Su described the athletes as "Japan's national treasure," and said he was glad to see exchanges between Taiwan and Japan at an all-time high, with visits between the two countries exceeding 2.4 million and bilateral trade exceeding US$60 billion last year. Su also wished them a good performance during the exhibition games in Taiwan.
The sumo exhibition and competition were organized by local cable TV network Asia Plus Broadcasting, which had previously brought a group of sumo wrestlers to tour Taiwan in June 2006 as a promotional warm-up event for the August meet.
The sumo delegation returned to Japan Aug. 21.