Sumo at the 2023 World Combat Games

[Akinomaki 40,790]

Several of the adults team on the 18th headed for Saudi Arabia, where the Riyadh 2023 World Combat Games sumo competitions take place on the 21st and 22nd https://www.worldcombatgames.sport/sumo/

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for the men (on the right in the back) 3rd in lightweight Oku (Nittaidai 3rd year - at the last games 10 years ago, Ura won the light weight as 3rd year) and open weight 3rd Matsuzono (for heavyweight), also middle weight runner-up Miwa and 2 more from corporate sumo in middle and heavy weight

https://olympics.com/en/news/world-combat-games-2023-preview-full-schedule-watch

Saturday 21 October
17:40-19:00 - Sumo Qualification
19:00-20:45 - Sumo Semi-finals + Finals
Sunday 22 October
19:40-20:30 - Sumo Semi-finals + Finals

possible live streams https://riyadh2023.com/sports/sumo/

[Asashosakari 19,663]

Doesn't look like the event has been much of a priority for most countries, none of the weight classes have even managed to fill out a 16-wrestler bracket. 11 each in women's light, men's light and women's middle, 12 in men's middle, and 15 each in the two heavy categories. And that's with as many as 3 competitors from the same country padding out some categories, and without the middle/light heavy weight class split that the World Championship has.

Start time today: 13:00 UTC. Most matches won't be streamed, I'm guessing. The Olympic channel has only one live stream going for all concurrent events today and tomorrow.

https://results.riyadh2023.com/sports/sum/index.html

https://olympics.com/en/sport-events/2023-world-combat-games-riyadh?slug=world-combat-games-day-2-riyadh

Edited October 21, 2023 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,663]

Stream switched to sumo about five minutes before the 14:40 UTC time suggested by the preliminary schedule, in the middle of the men's middleweight matches.

That's a sandy dohyo they have there. And now, after less than 10 minutes of airtime, an unscheduled 20 minute break even though the bouts were not running ahead of time (and the stream has nothing else to switch to except opening ceremony highlights either)...way to waste your limited opportunities for exposure.

Welp, the women's heavyweight was covered completely on the stream after the break, but just as the men were about to start battling the stream switched over to karate in unannounced fashion. And that right after the sumo commentator had opined, "In the men's heavyweight we are truly looking at the best of the best" - I guess we would have.

Oh, there actually is a second stream as well; https://riyadh2023.com/live/ has both while the Olympic Channel only picked up the first one today. (I'm guessing they weren't informed that the other one would be running as well, as they do list it for later days.) Only boxing on stream #2 anyway, however. Probably the same tomorrow, so this revelation won't be helping with the sumo competitions.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,663]

I had to skip out yesterday before the stream ever went back from karate to sumo for the finals; the last thing I "saw" (via the live scoring) was that they had stopped the competition after the two lightweight categories seemingly waiting to be put back on coverage. The stream eventually started, surprisingly, with a tape-delayed broadcast of all the lightweight matches before it went into what was apparently live coverage of the remaining categories (which must have been held up for at least an hour by that point, I'm sure the sparse live audience enjoyed that), missing out on the first women's middleweight semifinal for good measure anyway.

All that aside, if you're interested in watching what was actually watchable yesterday: https://olympics.com/en/video/world-combat-games-day-2-riyadh

The brief coverage of some men's middleweight prelims can be found from 5h33m to to 5h40m, then the women's heavyweight (and the abortive look at the men's) from 5h58m to 6h27m, and the finals of all the categories from 8h09m to the end of the stream. The broadcast centre didn't bother to stick around for the medal ceremonies even though they had nothing else to show, contrary to the commentator's expectations (which seems to be a recurring pattern already).

Unfortunately the Olympic Channel video player isn't set up to navigate through a 9 hour recording easily at all, so good luck with that. The alternate version of the recorded stream at the Riyadh2023 site (hosted through Youtube) was taken down already, probably by the organizers themselves because they'd gotten a background music copyright strike on one of their Friday recordings and they didn't want to risk getting any more.

All in all, pretty third-rate from an organizational point of view, but then I didn't really expect anything better from a SportAccord/GAISF-promoted multisport event...

BTW, I really think we should be splitting this off to a thread of its own. Kind of a shame to pollute the previous World Championship coverage like this.

[Asashosakari 19,663]

https://results.riyadh2023.com/sports/sum/index.html is the livescore link for the second day as well. Olympics.com is really flaky for me right now, but it probably doesn't matter as they're only meant to carry the main broadcast on there again, while there's actually a dedicated stream from the sumo session today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86QESxDuo1s

Open tournaments today with all 37 women / 38 men from yesterday's weight class events included in the draws. Normally a bunch end up not bothering, let's see how it goes this time.

Apparently they turned on the stream so late that the five matches of the women's prelim round were all missed...or maybe three, as the other two have no kimarite listed, which might have been the first two absences already.

Indeed they were a pair of absences, followed by another three in the first round proper, so only 32 out of 37 are competing. Pretty low quality of sumo by most of those who are actually there as well, though, to be honest. Not sure if it's just a lackluster field or a lack of interest in this extra competition. Even Katrina Watts' officiating comes across as subpar by her usual standards. Maybe it'll all get better in the later rounds.

Ridiculous scenes in the men's with no less than 9 no-shows including a double absence in the last prelim match which then resulted in a tenth fusensho in the next round. One wrestler was the beneficiary of three fusensho, even. (Last 64, Last 32, then also in the first repechage round because the quarterfinalist he lost to had also had a fusensho in an earlier round, transferring that absent competitor into the repechage bracket.)

10-minute break announced at the end of the preliminary session. Currently 35 minutes and counting, with no further updates... Oh, there's an announcement: They'll stick to the pre-scheduled time for the final session after all, which means we'll be on break for 70 or so minutes in the end. Good thing they finished the first session 40 minutes early...

Edited October 22, 2023 by Asashosakari

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

I just turned it on. There are at least 0 spectators in the stands.

Someone just succeeded in doing a maybe a kekaeshi but then rotated their own body under the victim causing them to lose :(

[Yamanashi 3,904]

Guess I'll wait for the BlueRay version.

[Akinomaki 40,790]

I thought the forum went down into a hole when suddenly all the recent posts had vanished from the thread - a note pointing to the new thread would be appreciated in such cases

2 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

There are at least 0 spectators in the stands.

Fun that the announcer kept calling for a big round of applause - in the end there really was some audible applause, I don't think anybody not related to the participants was attending the event

Nice to have veteran Miwa win at least one gold medal for Japan - they were about to end up behind the US in the medal ranks https://results.riyadh2023.com/sports/sum/index.html#/medals/standings

[Bunbukuchagama 772]

Ukraine dominated again, I see.

[Inside Sport Japan 762]

On 21/10/2023 at 17:51, Asashosakari said:

Doesn't look like the event has been much of a priority for most countries

With there being next to no money in international amateur sumo and athletes having to crowdfund to get to tournaments, a meet in Saudi Arabia, just a couple of weeks after the World Championships in Tokyo, was always likely to struggle for numbers.

This is just the third edition of the World Combat Games - and the first in a decade - meaning it lacks the cachet of the World Games (which has replaced the SWC on occasion).

Although with sumo now out of the latter the WCG may take on greater importance for that sport.

[Asashosakari 19,663]

1 hour ago, Inside Sport Japan said:

Although with sumo now out of the latter the WCG may take on greater importance for that sport.

Considering the promoting organization GAISF has just voluntarily dissolved itself this year - the reasons being summarized broadly as "lots of useful stuff we used to do has been taken over by other entities, and the stuff we're still doing has been making losses all over the place" - I'm not so sure the IFS/amateur sumo should be betting on the continuation of the World Combat Games by the entities that are supposed to succeed to what remained of GAISF's business efforts.

Although it's probably safe to say this WCG edition hasn't been a financial loss for GAISF, Saudi sportswashing being what it is. Nevertheless, this was supposed to be a spectator event. I'll never criticize the sumo world championship for having next to no attendance (they're usually not charging for tickets anyway). That just comes with the territory of being a niche amateur sport; the world championship is primarily organized for the benefit of the athletes. Events like the WCG (and the World Games), on the other hand, are specifically designed to have public appeal, to give the participating sports public and media exposure. It's hard to say that that's being accomplished this week.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Asashosakari