TOKYO — TOKYO (AP) — Danilo Yavhushyshyn left his native Ukraine 3 1/2 years in the past — simply after Russia launched a full-scale invasion — and has risen quickly to stardom in Japan as one of many high sumo wrestlers.

He is so good that three months in the past the 21-year-old defeated one of many sport’s high wrestlers.

This was not simply any high wrestler. He beat Mongolian-born Hoshoryu who, with Japanese-born Onosato, is likely one of the two highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan. They each carry the title of grand champion — or yokozuna.

Yavhushyshyn now goes by the Japanese ring identify of Aonishiki Arata and, at a information convention on Thursday, he selected to talk nearly solely about his rise within the sport.

Some high-profile Ukrainians overseas overtly enchantment for help for the battle. However Aonishiki caught to sports activities.

Aonishiki, who’s now a part of the extremely regimented world of sumo, talked largely about his consuming and coaching habits, studying Japanese, and being uncovered to sumo as a 6-year-old in his dwelling city of Vinnytsia in west central Ukraine.

“My nation is in a really tough circumstance, nonetheless, I’m a sumo wrestler so I want to talk about sumo,” he stated talking Japanese, a language he has picked up quickly.

“My household,” he added. “They now are in Germany, so they’re protected.”

Requested once more concerning the battle and his high-profile standing in Japan, he replied. “I hope that folks from Ukraine will be capable to see my sumo and have some sort of encouragement from that.”

Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in numerous intervals in Japan. They’ve included Mongolians, Hawaiians and now Ukrainians. A second Ukrainian, Shishi Masaru, can be a highly-ranked wrestler in Japan.

Ukraine has a really robust custom in Olympic wrestling. Its final gold-medal winner was Zhan Beleniuk within the Greco-Roman class on the Tokyo Video games, which have been delayed till 2021 by the pandemic.

“Sumo is kind of common in Ukraine, nonetheless it’s fairly uncommon for somebody to be doing solely sumo,” Aonishiki stated. “They’ll usually be doing wrestling and sumo, or judo and sumo.”

Aonishiki stated he got here to Japan in 2022 after placing up a friendship with a Japanese wrestler at a event in 2019. He hasn’t been again to Ukraine since arriving in Japan and stated, after all, he’d like to go to.

“It’s the place the place I used to be born, the place I used to be raised,” he stated. “It’s my homeland and there are a lot of individuals I do know there. So if there have been an opportunity I would love to have the ability to go and go to Ukraine.”

He additionally talked about his future curiosity in acquiring a Japanese passport.

There have been questions on his wrestling approach and energy. He can bench press 210 kilograms (460 kilos).

After all, there have been queries about his weight and consuming habits. He weighs solely 125 kilograms (275 kilos). That is slight in sumo since many weigh a minimum of 150-kilograms (330 kilos) and a few far more.

“My weight is considerably lighter or smaller than others,” he stated. “If doable I want to enhance my weight by round 10 kilograms (22 kilos). Nonetheless, that’s not really easy to do. It’s laborious to essentially eat greater than I’m in the mean time. It might be fairly painful in a approach.”

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AP Sports activities: https://apnews.com/hub/sports activities