'197cm 173kg Mongolian sumo monster' has fallen! The current tallest active wrestler suffered a shocking first defeat: "I almost changed the 70th-year history of Japanese sumo..."

*This content was translated by AI.

Tenshoyama Shogo (22, Tamanoi-beya), Mongolia's current tallest active wrestler, ended his winning streak with his first defeat.

Japan's "Sponichi Annex" reported on the 23rd that "in the 11th day of the autumn sumo tournament held at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tenshoyama of the Eastern Makushita 8 division, the third-highest league among the six sumo divisions, was defeated by Onoe-beya of the Western Makushita 25 division (26) via a force-out throw (abise-taoshi)."

Tenshoyama immediately lost his left outer mawashi to Onoe-beya at the start of the match. He attempted a counterattack by moving to the right but ultimately failed to overpower his opponent. After the match, Tenshoyama bit his lip and said, "I couldn't perform my sumo. I'm frustrated."

Standing 197cm tall and weighing 173kg, Tenshoyama built up wins from the first day of the tournament by leveraging his physical advantage. However, this defeat halted his winning streak at five matches. Since his debut in the lowest division, Jonokuchi, he had never recorded a makekoshi (a record where losses exceed wins, leading to demotion) and had continuously broken new ground in rank.

Notably, if Tenshoyama had achieved seven consecutive victories in this tournament, he would have tied a historic record: promotion to Juryo (the second-highest division) within just six tournaments after debut—the fastest ever in approximately 70 years of sumo history since the current system of six annual tournaments was established in 1958. Only four wrestlers had achieved this feat in nearly seven decades. However, with today's painful first defeat, his dream of becoming the fifth-fastest to achieve promotion has effectively been dashed.

Tenshoyama, whose real name is Ganbat Otgonbat, was born in 2004 in Batshiret, Mongolia. He moved to Japan in May 2019 and began practicing sumo as a first-year high school student at Meitoku Gijuku High School in Kochi Prefecture. While a third-year university student at Toyo University, he won the All-Japan University Selection Sumo Towada Tournament.

He later dropped out of university and joined Tamanoi-beya. He made his debut on the sumo ring at the 2025 Kyushu tournament and won the Sandanme division—the rank directly below Makushita—at the 2026 Nagoya tournament. His signature techniques are left-side entry (hidari-yotsu) and push-out (oshi).

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*This content was translated by AI.