New sumo ozeki Kotonowaka spoke at the city hall of his hometown of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, expressing his enthusiasm, saying, ``I want to work hard to move up one rank in the ranking and win the championship.''
Kotonowaka, a native of Matsudo City, is a member of the Sadogatake stable in the city, and entered the race for the championship at his first tournament last month, winning 13 games and earning promotion to ozeki.
This is the first time in 69 years that a wrestler from Chiba Prefecture has been promoted to ozeki.
On the 16th, they visited their local Matsudo City Hall and were greeted with loud applause from many employees and citizens.
In the meeting that followed, Mayor Kenji Hongoya encouraged him by saying, ``Congratulations on your promotion to ozeki.I hope you will be promoted to yokozuna and become a shining star in the sumo world.''
In response, Kotonowaka replied, ``We are still one place higher in the ranking and have not won the championship.We will do our best to bring the gift back to Matsudo.Thank you for your support.''
After the meeting, Kotonowaka said, ``I feel like I've been promoted now that people call me ``Ozeki.'' It's encouraging to have so many people come today, and I'm training hard to get even higher. I want to accumulate more," he said enthusiastically.
The spring tournament that Kotonowaka will compete in as the new ozeki will open on the 10th of next month at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.