Kokkai Futoshi

Kokkai Futoshi (born March 10, 1981, as Levan Tsaguria, Georgian: ლევან ცაგურია) is a former professional sumo wrestler from Georgia.

After a solid 9–6 performance in January 2008, in the following tournament he produced his best-ever top-division result, a 12–3 score from the rank of maegashira 5, which earned him joint runner-up honours behind Asashōryū and his second Fighting Spirit prize.

He was forced to pull out of the May 2012 tournament with an injury sustained in a defeat to Takanoyama on Day 10, breaking a run of 882 consecutive appearances since his professional debut in 2001, the most amongst active wrestlers.

Kokkai was joined in the top division by several wrestlers from Eastern Europe, including Kotoōshū from Bulgaria, Aran from Russia, and Baruto from Estonia.

In 2010 he was awarded the Honor Medal by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in recognition of raising the profile of his country abroad.

[1] During the September 2012 tournament, Kokkai's stablemaster announced his retirement due to multiple injuries to his body over his sumo career, which had prevented him from training for the last few months.

He began to fight more on the mawashi, gripping his opponent's belt, switching from the pushing and thrusting techniques he used earlier in his career.

His profile at the Japan Sumo Association still lists tsuki/oshi as his favoured techniques, and his most common winning kimarite was oshi-dashi, or push-out, followed by yori-kiri, or force-out.

Kokkai's younger brother George also became a professional sumo wrestler in September 2005 under the name Tsukasaumi, but quit after just a year following the death of their mother, returning to Georgia to take over the family business.

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

The makuuchi wrestler arriving for a tournament in January 2008.
Kokkai in May 2007
Kokkai in May 2009