Loyalty check for ex-sumo champ

Former sumo grand champion Asashoryu says an Asian Games wrestling final has split him between his homeland Mongolia and Japan which has forced him to retire after he committed a series of faux pas.

Mandakhnaran Ganzorig overcame Japan's Hiroyuki Oda by a fall in the men's freestyle 60kg to win Mongolia's first gold medal at these Games on Tuesday.

"I'm sorry. Isn't Mongolia strong?" Asashoryu, whose real name is Dolgorsurengiin Dagvadorj, told Japanese media. "Japan is my second home. It was really tough to watch the match."

But, naturally, he seemed delighted that his countryman had won.

The 30-year-old was seen punching the air when Ganzorig finished off Oda, shedding tears when the Mongolian national anthem was played. Asashoryu, now honorary president of the Mongolian wrestling association, also told Oda, who has come back from surgery on thyroid cancer in October: "This is not the end. You'll do your best next time."

He has won a record seven straight sumo tournaments as the first Mongolian to reach the top rank in the ritualistic centuries-old Japanese wrestling. But his carefree behaviour cost him dear.

In 2007, he was suspended from competition when he took part in a charity football match at home after skipping a mandatory sumo exhibition tour citing an injury.

He retired from sumo last February after angering the sumo authority over allegations that he assaulted an associate in a midnight brawl outside a Tokyo nightclub.

GUANGZHOU, China (AFP)