By Ernest Osogbue.
Only three years ago, sumo champion, Aonishiki, was just another 18 year old boy fooling around on the streets of his hometown, Vinnytsia, in the Oblast region of West-Central Ukraine. As a child who loved sumo wrestling, and had been honing his skills since age seven, he was practicing his sumo, winning laurels at junior championships, and then suddenly, Russia invaded his country and changed the trajectory of his life.
He first sought refuge in Germany, before moving alone to Japan, where with the help of friends, he was able to secure support to practice his passion. Having secured admission to study at the university, before the Russian invasion, Aonishiki, who is not sure whether he would have taken up sumo wrestling professionally, was left with no choice but to focus on the only thing he was good at in order to help his family. Only on Sunday 23rd November 2025, he became the grand sumo champion, at the November sumo tournament in Fukuoka, Japan. Following that victory, the Japan Sumo Association, JSA, met on Monday, 24th November 2025, and decided to promote Aonishiki to the rank of Ozeki, only one rank below the grand championship rank of Yokozuna.
This is wonderful news indeed for the athlete, and for Ukraine. As a Komosubi, the expectation was that he would be promoted to Sekiwake, two ranks below the grand champion. But in their wisdom, and going by Aonishiki’s excellent performances in tournaments throughout 2025, the JSA, decided to reward him with a double promotion.
Aonishiki will now be rated higher by the next grand sumo tournament, in January 2026, at the Ryogoku Kogugikan in Tokyo, Japan. As it stands, the chances of winning two tournaments in a row, the major criteria for promotion to Yokozuna, has become brighter. If and when he is made a Yokozuna, he would not only be the first Ukranian to achieve the feat, but he’ll also be the first European to achieve the status of a Yokozuna, and grand sumo champion.
