Sumo champion Tochinoshin awarded Knight of Sports state prize
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Sumo champion Tochinoshin has been awarded the top state title of the Knight of Sports of Georgia following his recent achievements in the Japanese competition.
The athlete, born Levan Gorgadze, was bestowed the highest Georgian award in the field of sports at a reception hosted at the Parliament of Georgia on Tuesday.
It was handed to the 2018 Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament champion by the Minister of Culture and Sports of Georgia Mikheil Giorgadze to mark both the title and his recent promotion to the rank of Ozeki.
The title-winning athlete was welcomed back in Georgia this week by supporters. Photo: Georgia’s Culture and Sports ministry press office.
Tochinoshin also received accompanying prizes — a copy of the Georgian national Medieval poem The Knight in the Panther’s Skin and a special issue coin for the centennial of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia from parliament speaker Irakli Kobakhidze.
Gorgadze’s visit to Georgia this week was the first time the sumo wrestler travelled to his homeland since the win in the 2018 tournament, also known as The Emperor’s Cup.
He claimed the historic win for Georgian sport in January before also kicking off a new season with a string of victories.
Tochinoshin signs a shirt for his young fan on arrival in Tbilisi. Photo: Georgia’s Culture and Sports ministry press office.
His 10 wins in the spring calendar of fixtures, followed by 12 more winning encounters in the summer season, saw Tochinoshin promoted to the second-highest sumo rank of Ozeki last month.
The Knight of Sports award was preceded for the wrestler by the Order of Honour of Georgia, presented by Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in February.
Born in the central Georgian city of Mtskheta, Gorgadze has competed in 71 basho tournaments in sumo since 2006. He has won three Juryo Division Championships and two Makushita Division Championships.
The full statistics of Tochinoshin’s performances, as well as his awards, can be viewed on his profile page here.
The Georgian sumo wrestler Levan Gorgadze, known as Tochinoshin, has become the first Georgian and the third European sumo wrestler promoted to the second-highest rank of sumo: Ozeki, with only one step remaining to gain the highest title in the sport - Yokozuna.
Georgian sumo champion Tochinoshin is set to be granted a promotion to the second-highest rank of the sport’s wrestlers following his consecutive wins in the ongoing competitive season in Japan.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has awarded Georgian wrestler Levan Gorgadze with the prestigious Order of Honour. Gorgadze, known in the sumo community as Tochinoshin, has been awarded for promoting Georgia abroad.
Georgian wrestler Levan Gorgadze is two wins away from claiming the major Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament champion’s title after defeating his latest opponent on Friday.
The Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has hosted famous Georgian sumo wrestler Levan Gorgadze, also known as Tochinoshin, who has made history this year by winning the Sumo Grand Championship and upgrading his title to Ozeki, which is the second highest rank in the sport.
The Georgian sumo wrestler Levan Gorgadze, known as Tochinoshin has regained the second-highest rank of sumo, Ozeki, after defeating Yokozuna Kakuryu at the sumo championship in Japan.
Georgian wrestler Levan Gorgadze, known in the sumo community as Tochinoshin, defeated his Japanese rival Okinoumi on the third day of the new year’s Sumo Hatsu Basho on Tuesday.