Sumo forced to get to grips with gambling as TV bans live bouts

JAPAN'S public TV broadcaster has said it will not air live broadcasts of a major upcoming sumo tournament, saying that a betting scandal has generated such viewer disgust that the ancient national sport is facing its worst crisis in a century.

NHK, which has broadcast the six annual sumo tournaments since 1953, said it will pull live sumo coverage from its schedule and instead air only taped highlights of the 15-day tournament, which starts on Sunday in the central city of Nagoya.

The decision was highly symbolic - NHK's sumo broadcasts are a staple of Japanese TV. One rival network broadcast a report from an old people's home where residents wondered what they would do without daily sumo programmes.

NHK said the scandal has become so bad, however, that it had no choice but to pull live coverage.

The gambling scandal involves dozens of sumo's top wrestlers and coaches who allegedly wagered as much as 4.3 million (33,000) on baseball. Often Yakuza gangsters acted as go-betweens, reigniting long-standing concerns about sumo and organised crime.

It was the latest blow for a sport that is just getting over the resignation of its top wrestler for drunken misbehaviour, the criminal punishment of a coach for a deadly initiation incident and the expulsion of several stars for marijuana use.

"Sumo is facing a crisis the likes of which only comes once every 100 years," said NHK chairman Shigeo Fukuchi. "We strongly urge them to make serious reforms."

Hitting at the heart of a bastion of Japanese culture, this crisis captured Japanese headlines and news broadcasts for weeks.

After much public hand wringing, on Sunday the Japan Sumo Association banned senior wrestler Kotomitsuki and his coach, Otake, and the chairman of the sports body agreed to step down, albeit temporarily.

"We would like all of you to stake your life on this and make a fresh start," education minister Fumio Kawabata told the association's acting chief, a former public prosecutor yesterday before the NHK announcement. He said this could be sumo's last chance to regain face.

Responding to magazine allegations, Kotomitsuki, 34, who holds the sport's second-highest rank, revealed last month that he bet on professional baseball. Otake, a former wrestler, acknowledged running up betting debts of more than 33,000.

An internal survey by the JSA last month found that at least 65 of its members had been involved in illegal gambling. Police are investigating the allegations, and one arrest has been made.

Though widely popular, sumo is not the draw it used to be. NHK, which has also broadcast the tournaments on radio since 1928, is the only major network that airs the tournaments live.

Commercial networks used to have the tournaments in their schedules, but pulled them as ratings slid and the sumo authorities requested more money for broadcasting rights.

The sport has also been hamstrung by several scandals in recent years and is attracting fewer Japanese wrestlers good enough to make the top ranks.

The reigning grand champion, Hakuho - who is not implicated in the gambling scandal - is Mongolian and most of the best wrestlers are also foreigners.

Police said sumo must take strong measures to show that it is willing to purge gangster ties. "Sumo must completely sweep away the influence of organised crime," said National Public Safety Commission chairman Hiroshi Nakai. "They still have much to do to clear themselves."