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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:36 a.m., Monday, September 29, 2008

Sumo: Banned Russian wrestler slams officials

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO — A Russian wrestler banned for life from Japanese sumo over a drug scandal said Monday he was forced to lose matches in exchange for bribes.

"I was forced to accept money and put in unfair bouts," Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev, known by his ring name, Wakanoho, said through an interpreter.

Wakanoho also accused trainers and other wrestlers of smoking marijuana.

He said he will give further details when he testifies in court later this week as a witness for the weekly magazine Shukan Gendai, which faces a defamation suit by the Japan Sumo Association and several wrestlers over its articles last year alleging bout-fixing.

"The world of sumo is dirty," Wakanoho said. "I just want to make it a clean place."

Wakanoho was arrested in August after police said he had a small amount of marijuana in his wallet. He was the first wrestler ever to be expelled from sumo over drug use, though prosecutors later dropped the criminal case due to insufficient evidence.

Tests conducted by the sumo association found two other Russians — Roho and Hakurozan — also positive for the drug. They were expelled and the head of the sumo association resigned.

Wakanoho has since filed a lawsuit, demanding the association reinstate him as a sumo wrestler and pay his monthly salary until he is hired back.

On Monday, Wakanoho told reporters it was unfair that only the three Russians were punished over the drug scandal.

"How come those Japanese trainers and wrestlers who are the ones smoking marijuana are not punished?" he asked, without elaborating.

The association has previously denied bout-fixing allegations. It had no immediate comment on Wakanoho's accusations Monday.