Sumo wrestlers suspected of cellphone match-fixing
TOKYO: Tokyo police have uncovered text messages from the cellphones of sumo wrestlers which implied they were fixing bouts, in a fresh blow to the ancient, scandal-plagued sport, reports said on Wednesday.
Police found messages indicating wrestlers were trading wins or fixing fights during a investigation last year into gang-linked gambling among sumo wrestlers, Japanese media said.
The messages were discovered in cellphones confiscated from several wrestlers amid the probe into betting on baseball, Jiji Press said, citing anonymous sources.
Previously deleted messages had been restored by police, Jiji said.
Several junior-grade wrestlers are suspected of involvement in the match-fixing, which saw wins traded for thousands of dollars, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said without specifying the amount.
It is unlikely that the police will pursue criminal charges as match-fixing in itself is not illegal in Japan, but the Tokyo police plans to refer the case to the education and sport ministry, Jiji and Mainichi said.
The ministry supervises the sumo association, which has denied any match-fixing.
"It is inevitable that the sumo world will be dealt another serious blow after the baseball gambling scandal," the Mainichi daily said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on the reports.
The ritualistic male-only event where contestants toss salt to purify the ring before fights has seen its cloistered world unravelled by recent controversy.
Last year, scores of sumo wrestlers, who are expected to act as role models in Japan, admitted to betting illegally on baseball games in gambling organised by bookmakers linked to organised crime.
The sport's ties with organised crime and revelations of widespread illegal gambling plunged sumo into deep crisis last year, leading big-name sponsors to withdraw and the broadcaster NHK to boycott a national tournament in July.
Tokyo po! lice las t week arrested three former sumo wrestlers and the mother of one of them on suspicion of illegally organising baseball gambling and collecting money in bets from sumo wrestlers in 2009 and 2010.
It has also emerged that top members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's biggest crime syndicate, were given ringside seats at sumo tournaments, allowing them to send messages to jailed gangsters via NHK broadcasts seen in prisons.
Police found messages indicating wrestlers were trading wins or fixing fights during a investigation last year into gang-linked gambling among sumo wrestlers, Japanese media said.
The messages were discovered in cellphones confiscated from several wrestlers amid the probe into betting on baseball, Jiji Press said, citing anonymous sources.
Previously deleted messages had been restored by police, Jiji said.
Several junior-grade wrestlers are suspected of involvement in the match-fixing, which saw wins traded for thousands of dollars, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said without specifying the amount.
It is unlikely that the police will pursue criminal charges as match-fixing in itself is not illegal in Japan, but the Tokyo police plans to refer the case to the education and sport ministry, Jiji and Mainichi said.
The ministry supervises the sumo association, which has denied any match-fixing.
"It is inevitable that the sumo world will be dealt another serious blow after the baseball gambling scandal," the Mainichi daily said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on the reports.
The ritualistic male-only event where contestants toss salt to purify the ring before fights has seen its cloistered world unravelled by recent controversy.
Last year, scores of sumo wrestlers, who are expected to act as role models in Japan, admitted to betting illegally on baseball games in gambling organised by bookmakers linked to organised crime.
The sport's ties with organised crime and revelations of widespread illegal gambling plunged sumo into deep crisis last year, leading big-name sponsors to withdraw and the broadcaster NHK to boycott a national tournament in July.
Tokyo po! lice las t week arrested three former sumo wrestlers and the mother of one of them on suspicion of illegally organising baseball gambling and collecting money in bets from sumo wrestlers in 2009 and 2010.
It has also emerged that top members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's biggest crime syndicate, were given ringside seats at sumo tournaments, allowing them to send messages to jailed gangsters via NHK broadcasts seen in prisons.
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