sports

Egyptian sumo wrestler denies driving car that caused accident

41 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

41 Comments
Login to comment

The biggest being the management rigged the "sport"... Which is always forgotten.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Two important points. As the headline states, its an EGYPTIAN sumo wrestler (not a native born one; they would never do that).

And two, the police hand him over to prosecutors immediately but wait when one physically assaults and injures another? If Takanohana hadn’t made a fuss about it, the sumo association would’ve swept the assault under the dojo never to be seen again.

And three, can sumo wrestlers fit behind a wheel of a car? What kind of car? Obviously not a kei car…

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Idiot.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

@borscht: I hope everybody read your comment.

He does not have license.

His wife lied. She will be charged with Perjury that receive heavy penalty. Smo Association should contact a law firm. to lecture basic of. Laws.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Banned from driving, the ancient sports governing body decided due to past traffic accidents so no licence. If that's there ancient thinking then alcohol should be banned do to past incidents. Match fixing due to past incidents. Bulling to the point of killing should be banned. Or teach them to behave like a responsible adult and allow them to be adults. All these ancient rules cause more problems than simple education.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Second Borscht's complaint about the tedious FOREIGNER headline. And for god's sake, they can't even drive. Sumo needs to be blown up.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Either way he is admitting that he's a dishonest liar attempting to obstruct the investigation. I don't believe him for one second.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Check the security cameras to see who was driving.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Poor wrestler.... jeeezz, they're really under a microscope... a minor accident and its big news.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

a minor accident and its big news.

The minor accident was ever big news. The lying is big news.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Borscht

Agreed. It seems a little odd that he was handed over to prosecutors straight away. After all, this was a minor incident, which could surely have been dealt with by the police.

I assume that he has the necessary insurance, as does all the other parties involved in this minor incident.

Also agreed. Why does the headline say Egyptian sumo wrestler?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I expect he is lying. Sad but true.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Moby reports on the scope of his fate ー 3年以下の懲役又は50万円以下の罰金 . He'd better hope no one was hurt, and lying to the coos will be held against him when sentenced. Never lie to cops.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I was under the impression that in Japan a person is persumed innocent until proven guilty. (In the case of a minor road traffic accident - at fault).

If his wife was driving then surely it is a matter for her insurance company.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The poor woman is pregnant so hopefully the cops will go easy on her

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sumo going thru a rough patch.  O Sun Arshi can't be that difficult to recognize.  CCTV?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Their joint problem, and their joint story, but he is the money maker, so she will naturally want to protect that first. Let us hope that the Sumo Association will 'discover' some way to give him a break and allow his career to move forwards.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Ex_res - they have to maintain the 99% conviction rate. Often, if you are arrested, your employer will immediately fire you, whether guilty or innocent; so that they are not tainted by being identified in public as the employer; while people around you will cut ties.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Let me enlighten you all a bit as I work in the sports industry and used to work with sumo wrestlers. And I do not mean that in an arrogant way, I just want to point out some facts.

It is correct that the sumo federation prohibits wrestlers from driving. It is to protect them, in my opinion, that is overprotection. They are adults, should be allowed to drive under the same rules as anybody else and the same laws. But even an accident should not affect their careers, unless if DUI or other unacceptable behavior for a professional athlete.  You don't loose your job at the bank when you have a minor car accident. 

If he lies, it is because the sumo federation scares him into it with unreasonable penalties because he drove a car. 

Of course sumo wrestlers can drive, regardless of their size. The cars can be adjusted with driver seats moved backward and pedals adjusted as well. And they are athletes with good reflexes and reaction times. They would usually drive SUV's or bigger models such as Mercedes, Audi, Lexus or Jeeps.

May I also ask you all to think about this ; Professional sports, by definition, is nearly never clean, there is too much money going around for that.  Doping in cycling, athletics, weightlifting..., deals in tennis, sumo, boxing,  betting on baseball, football, soccer... shall I continue ?  If you want to see pure sports, go to see amateur games our youth games, there is a chance, they are mostly clean.  But we want our hero's to be perfect, nobody is.  But we unrealistically demand it from them. Accept them with their human mistakes, DO NOT condone the doping, the match fixing etc.. but accept it as a sad fact that should be cured but probably won't.

But anyone betting on a professional sports game for example, should think twice before pointing fingers.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@Ex: Japan is well known as the country of guilty until proven innocent. Police catches criminal, hand to prosecutors. If lucky court.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

He is big. Cop. didn't beat him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sounds like the Chris Huhne case in the UK.

Ex Tory energy minister and his wife both got 8months jail time for trying the same thing.

he claimed she was driving too.

The driving offence wasnt the issue. It's attempting to pevert the course of justice that puts you in deep sh#t!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Am I imagining it or do foreign born rikishi get into trouble more often than the native born?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

So to protect his pregnant wife, the sumo wrestler sat on her? I guess "I was drinking" wasn't an option.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Foreign sumo westlers always under scrutiny.

Get you wife pregnant and tell me you won't use all your might to protect her from anything to happen slall or big.

If he lied, then bad but liying is not a crime at all for me in that case if no one was hurt. So I would be lenient. With most western Christian style, you forgive easily, Japanese don't. Hence their actual apathy and lack of initiative.

Good luck and be the truth merciful.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wanderlust, Toshiko.

Has he been arrested?

If so he should explain to the judge (which he must see within 48 hours) that he was not driving.

A judge should take a balanced look at all the facts before him/her.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Thanks for that Educator60. I'm sure that this is just a straight forward insurance issue, and not worth too much attention. Thousands of collisions take place everyday.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

If this is his first offence, he might be released. If his case is handled in a court, a judge may release him with some amount of bail money. I think Association will pay.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Toshiko

Assuming any offence has happened, would the court not just send a summons in the post?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When issueing summons are necessary, a bailiff brings to home and hands to addressee. they don't use postal. service to give summons. If defendant has defense attorney, summons will be given to defense attorney.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When bail money is high, bond man will loan 10 % of bail and defen dant will be released.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He says his wife was driving but witnesses and security cameras had him at the wheel, apparently. The police also have information from the neighbors about who used to drive the car regularly. 

News programs showed a quick close-up of the crushed/dented front left fender and grille, but it was hard to tell what car it was, either a black Merc or maybe Honda sedan, fairly large, it seemed.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Educ: I wrote "if'

Afe you sure cops ignored. him caused accident?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@nanda: Probably Merce? Large size people's choice. Sport magazines stated he was arrested for

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He was caught by Nagano polices, with many curious people watching. Driving without valid licensee. H was hiding this accident to Sumo Association.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He bumped his car to another car. No one was hurt. Her or his wife might be hurt.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites