TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese police raided two sumo stables Wednesday, seeking evidence in their probe of a gambling scandal linked to yakuza crime groups which has rocked the nation’s ancient sport.
Police officers in dark suits walked into the Onomatsu and Tokitsukaze stables in Tokyo, where wrestlers have been involved in illegal gambling on baseball games and other sports, footage by public broadcaster NHK showed.
The police were expected to raid some 30 locations linked to the sumo world, including other stables, where wrestlers live and train.
The Japan Sumo Association has admitted that scores of wrestlers had gambled illegally and banned more than 10 from the next tournament starting Sunday in the central city of Nagoya.
Betting in Japan is permitted only on horse racing and certain motor sports.
The association has fired wrestler Kotomitsuki, 34, a high-ranking "ozeki" second only to "yokozuna" grand champions, along with his stablemaster Otake, 42, for taking part in illegal gambling on baseball.
The scandal has shocked the Japanese public, which expects sumo wrestlers and their masters to act as role models.
Japan’s state broadcaster NHK, furious over the scandals, said Tuesday it will not air an upcoming sumo tournament, the first time it has scrapped the broadcast since they began in 1953.
Police last month arrested a former wrestler-turned-gangster, Mitsutomo Furuichi, 38, on extortion charges after he had allegedly blackmailed Kotomitsuki, threatening to expose his gambling.
