(Reuters) - Tochinoshin became the first Georgian to win a grand sumo tournament on Saturday, defeating Japanese wrestler Shohozan for his seventh straight victory at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo. Aminishiki became the oldest wrestler at age 39 to return to the elite makuuchi division at last year's Kyushu meet and won the Fighting Spirit prize. Grand champion Kakuryu suffered his third straight loss on the 13th-day of the 15-day tournament at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan and now trails Tochinoshin by two wins. Tochinoshin, whose real name is Levan Gorgadze, was fighting as a number three ‘maegashira’, the lowest of the five ranks in the sport’s top ‘makuuchi’ division, and began the day two wins ahead of grand champion or ‘yokozuna’ Kakuryu. "This is the greatest. I'm extremely happy," said Tochinoshin after sending his ninth-ranked maegashira opponent down to his fifth loss of the tournament. The Georgian recovered, even though his back was briefly turned to his opponent, managing to pivot and lock up Shohozan’s arm before going on to claim victory. The 30-year-old recovered from a slight misstep against Shohozan to claim the one victory he needed to win a 15-day grand tournament in Japan’s traditional sport. The 177 kg (390 pound) Georgian ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at the tournament in Nagoya in July 2013 and dropped out of the top division after missing three grand tournaments. "This is something I never imagined when I dropped from makuuchi," Tochinoshin said. "There were many times I felt like quitting. But I settled down, got out of the hospital and even though I had dropped way down the rankings, my attitude changed dramatically." I wanted to give it one more shot.”

Miscalculation almost cost Tochinoshin dear during Saturday’s contest when he lost balance and nearly landed on the straw after Shohozan ducked out of the way of one of his strikes. In the day's final bout, ozeki Takayasu (11-3) put a feather in his cap by sending yokozuna Kakuryu (10-4) to his fourth straight defeat.
In sumo, Tochinoshin Tsuyoshi becomes the first Georgian wrestler in history to win the makuuchi (top division) championship.