Former sumo champion Konishiki to marry again

Advertiser News Services

Hawaii-born Konishiki, one of the first foreign stars in Japanese sumo, will marry this spring, Japanese news media reported today.

The 38-year-old Konishiki (Salevaa Atisanoe of Nanakuli), is set to wed 26-year-old Chie Iijima, an employee at a medical clinic, the Sankei Sports newspaper and other media reported.

Eiji Ushijima, a spokesman for Konishiki's talent agency, KP Co. Ltd., said that the two were "seriously involved" but had not yet decided to tie the knot.

It would be the second marriage for Konishiki, who retired from sumo in 1997 and has had a successful career in Japan's entertainment business since then.

Konishiki was the first foreign-born sumo wrestler to reach the sport's second-highest rank of ozeki or champion. He took Japanese citizenship in 1994.

He married Japanese model Sumika Shioda in 1992 but divorced her in 2000.