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The Guardian
25-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Teenager from Hull becomes second Briton ever to join a professional sumo stable
A teenager from Hull has arrived in Japan to pursue his dream of becoming a grand champion sumo wrestler, as only the second Briton to win a place at one of the ancient sport's professional stables. Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, left Yorkshire for Japan straight after finishing his GCSEs, to become the first British hopeful to join a stable since Nathan Strange – a Londoner who fought under the ring name Hidenokuni – in 1989. Tarasenko, who is 187cm tall, was given the rare opportunity to break into the Japanese sport's professional ranks after winning amateur tournaments and demonstrating a commitment to learning Japanese – a requirement if his trial period at the Minato stable near Tokyo is to turn into a professional career. Tarasenko was invited back after reportedly impressing the stable when he trained there last year, and now is on the brink of what some experts believe could be the start of a successful life as a full-time rikishi, or wrestler, with his sights set firmly on reaching yokozuna grand champion status. Despite his youth, Tarasenko's physique and years spent practising judo and playing rugby helped him win under-18 gold in the 90kg weight class at an amateur tournament in Estonia – his father's country of birth – in 2023, after just an hour of formal sumo training, according to the Japan Times. His father, Georgi Zilkin, said he was confident his son would thrive in Japan and quickly become part of the sumo family. 'They [the stablemaster and his wife] are considered his parents from the moment he enters the club,' Zilkin told Hull Live, adding that Tarasenko had been selected for his 'raw ability' and work ethic. 'He was learning Japanese every day at 5am, waking up in the morning because of the time difference to speak to his tutor online,' he said. Tarasenko's feat is all the more impressive given that sumo's 45 stables have been limited to one foreign wrestler each since 2002, although that did not prevent the sport's recent domination by Mongolian-born wrestlers, decades after Hawaiian rikishi first penetrated sumo's famously conservative culture. The Minato stable, based in Saitama prefecture, confirmed that Tarasenko had been accepted as a trainee, adding that he could make his professional debut at the spring basho, or major tournament, in Osaka in March next year provided he passes his Japanese exams. Tarasenko will be expected to perform cooking and other duties and live alongside his fellow wrestlers as he adjusts to regimented stable life. He will also have to fit his Japanese studies around early-morning training sessions and twice-daily meals of chanko nabe – a protein-rich hotpot – to help him gain weight. The crewcut he sported during his amateur career will eventually give way to a chonmage top-knot. 'He will have to adjust to lots of things, such as diet and lifestyle, but he's an earnest and honest boy, and his Japanese ability has improved considerably, so we are not particularly worried about him settling in,' a Minato stable spokesperson told the Guardian. 'He has already made friends with the other wrestlers and gets plenty of support from the people around him. We hope he'll continue to work hard at his sumo and live up to everyone's expectations.'
Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Meet the British teenager on a quest to become a sumo wrestling star
Like so many fathers and sons before them, Georgi Zilkin and Nicholas Tarasenko had an earnest conversation a while ago about what Nicholas was planning to do with his life. 'He said, 'Well, I want to get into sport,'' Georgi recalls. Nicholas, now 15, has always been big for his age, and disciplined with it. He has thrived at rugby, mixed martial arts and judo. Georgi, however, did not see a future in those pursuits. 'Like any normal father I said, 'No, there is no money in that, you need to get a job...' He pauses, before brightening. 'Then sumo wrestling turned up.' If a life and career training to go professional in Japan's ancient national sport strikes you as an unlikely choice for a GCSE student from Hull in want of secure employment, you would have a good point. But Georgi, despite his protestations, isn't a particularly normal father. Nicholas, meanwhile, is far, far from a normal 15-year-old. Two years after he first stepped into a dohyō, the circular space where a sumo wrestling bout takes place, Nicholas has become just the second Briton to be awarded a rare scholarship at a prestigious sumo academy in Japan. He will join the Minato-beya stable in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, this month. There, all being well, he'll train for around a year before advancing to become a professional. 'And then I'll just become a professional and be in Japan forever,' Nicholas says. We are speaking two days before the pair fly to Japan. They've been several times before, as Nicholas's interest, and potential, in sumo grew. Georgi, 47, a wrestling fan originally from Estonia, where sumo is popular after the success of the Estonian ' rikishi '(wrestler) Baruto Kaito, felt satisfied that his son would be set for life if he could crack Japan. 'They actually take good care of you over there, and it's a job, there's money in it. So I said, 'Yeah, why not.' In different sports there is no certainty, but sumo is a career. He will be fine,' Georgi, a karaoke bar owner, says. Nobody doubts that Nicholas has the size: at 15 years old, he stands at 6ft 3in and a little over 19 stone (120kg). 'I've still got a lot to grow,' he promises. His height is already fine, but by his mid-20s he's aiming to be 25 stone (158kg), roughly average for a rikishi. Better get eating. 'Yeah, but I'm good at eating. I was 80kg last year, then I ate 6,000 calories a day and got to 120kg.' Those calories mainly came in the form of eggs – at least six every morning – and 'loads of chicken'. In Japan, rikishi eat chankonabe, a protein-packed chicken broth soup filled with fish, tofu, vegetables and chicken, often served with beer and rice. The average wrestler might have 10 bowls of it per meal, and 10,000 or so calories, every day. It is said that the retired wrestler Takamisugi once ate 65 bowls in one sitting. Needless to say, there is no upper weight limit in sumo wrestling. 'I'm going to be taught how to make that,' Nicholas says, sounding pleased as punch. Sumo was almost exclusively a Japanese sport for centuries until 1993 when Akebono, a wrestler from Hawaii, became the first foreigner to become a yokozuna – or grand champion, the highest rank in the sport. Since then, Mongolians began to dominate the top tier. In May, Onosato Daiki became the first Japanese man in eight years to be named a yokozuna. There are now rules permitting only one foreigner for each of the 47 'sumo stables'. Nicholas will therefore be the only person among the 11-strong 2025 intake, and wider coaching and teaching staff, who speaks any English. He's been learning Japanese for a year. 'I can have a bit of a conversation,' he says. Life in a stable is notoriously tough and monastic, with many practices and rituals within the sport derived from Shintoism, Japan's official religion. Generally, Nicholas can expect to be up at around 5am to help prepare the training spaces, before stretching gives way to gym work, bone-crunching ring practice and, finally, breakfast. As a newcomer, he'll also be schooled in the rituals and respect of the sport, instructed in how to cook, and shown how to behave in public as a revered rikishi – major celebrities in Japan. A key bonding element in sumo, especially after new wrestlers have shaved their heads (they then grow their hair out as they are reborn, creating the famous topknot), is karaoke. 'And luckily I own a karaoke bar, so that is fine for him,' Georgi says, cheerfully. Nicholas agrees. What will he sing? 'Well, being from England, they want me to do the Beatles. So I'm practising Yesterday.' Socialising outside of the stable is frowned upon, while discipline is enforced in the strictest terms. The dropout rate is high. In the past, some stables have had a reputation for bullying. The only other British man to win a place at a Japanese sumo stable, Nathan Strange, who enrolled in 1989, dropped out after feeling alienated. 'I'm excited to see how my character shifts, how my mentality changes in such a rough environment,' Nicholas says. 'My stable has been very nice and welcoming so far, they're tough on training, but those scandals won't happen there.' Georgi can be heard sighing. 'Things happen everywhere. If you're afraid of wolves, don't go to the forest and pick berries, you know what I mean? But the berries are needed, you have to live your life. But no, I'm not worried, he already does long hours of training here, and the people who are looking after him are really nice.' It's different from sixth form college in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I wonder what Nicholas's friends at school think. 'I mean, to be fair, in school I don't really have mates,' he admits. 'I'm not too fussed about it, no one in school is a good influence. I've made friends in the stable, but I distance myself from others.' I can't imagine they'd pick on him. 'Oh,' he adds, 'many people still pick on me.' He joins a sport that is more popular than ever. All 90 days of bouts in 2024 were sold out, providing the Japan Sumo Association with record revenues after a worrying pandemic dip. Tickets now sell out in minutes, and attending an evening of sumo has become popular again with young people in Japan – particularly women. In October, London's Royal Albert Hall will host a tournament, the first outside Japan in 20 years. Nicholas, who has always competed in different combat sports, primarily judo, entered a sumo competition on a relative whim when visiting Estonia two years ago. He won against adult men, which piqued the interest of the international sumo community and brought him to the attention of Japanese coaches. Back in the UK, Georgi set his son up with Scott Findlay, the president of British Sumo, who started mentoring him. 'From day one, it was clear Nicholas had something incredibly rare – not just natural ability, but a deep instinct for sumo, and a level of discipline and focus beyond his years,' Findlay, who oversees a growing sport in Britain that only a few hundred participate in, says. They'd meet and train 'as often as we could', leading to Nicholas winning medals at the British Sumo Championships and representing Britain at the Junior European Championships. 'There's not really a sport like it, it's not like boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu, those are all similar, but there's a different objective in sumo,' Nicholas says. Georgi murmurs his agreement. 'If you miss a punch in those sports, you get another go. This is different.' In sumo, outside of the elaborate pre-fight rituals – which generally take longer than the bout – the objective is beautifully simple: get the other guy out of the circle, and ASAP. 'There are no second chances,' Georgi says. Georgi, along with Nicholas's mother, Antonina, a teaching assistant, have supported their son's unusual ambition from the start. Is Antonina as keen as Georgi? 'Um, she is, but she wants her baby son next to her. She's worried about him. But he knows what he's doing, he has an opportunity in front of him, he'll be fine,' Georgi says. I assume they've spent a fortune on international travel, not to mention chicken and eggs, too. It must add up, with four other children (Nicholas is the second-youngest), including a younger son, David, who's also showing promise in the sport. 'Well, if I wasn't a sumo fan I'd say, 'Nah, I'm not doing that', but because I know his potential I have put a chunk of money on travel and accommodation, so we've been a bit strapped for cash for the last year. But now the sumo stable will pay, so that's easier,' Georgi says. Once Nicholas is there, the stable will cover everything. Georgi will fly his son out on Thursday and return on his own. Nicholas can video call home, but the next time he sees his parents will be when he graduates from the stable, then begins to climb the long, steep ladder as a sumo wrestler. It can be a brutal life – only when rikishi rise to the top two of the sport's six divisions are they allowed to get married and have a family, and retirement hits in your 30s, if you're lucky with injuries, but health problems often follow. The life expectancy of a sumo wrestler is some 10 years younger than the average Japanese man. 'Sumo isn't just a sport, it's a lifestyle. You can't just do a little bit of it, it's all or nothing,' Nicholas says. Even over the phone, he radiates a kind of brutal calm. No nerves, then? 'Well, when you're anxious, it's the same part of your brain that says you're excited,' he reasons. 'So when I think I'm anxious or nervous, I just tell myself it's excitement, then it goes away.' That technique may just prove useful.
The Sun
15-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Heavyweight Brit teen, 15, heading to Japan to become SUMO wrestler & reveals huge sacrifices he's making
A HEAVYWEIGHT teenager is heading to Japan — to become a sumo wrestler. Nineteen-stone Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, will become only the second Briton to do so. 4 The 6ft 3in teen has won a scholarship at a prestigious academy where he will train with ten other sumo hopefuls. He will have strict schedules at the Minato Beya stable, which hopes to turn him into a champion of the ring. Nicholas will see his family only occasionally, until he has achieved his full potential. He will also be taught to cook a Japanese soup — chankonabe — which will form part of his 7,000-calorie daily diet. Nicholas, of Hull, East Yorks, told The Sun: 'I've been given a chance and I intend to go as hard as possible at it. My hope is to reach the high ranks. This is what motivates me to succeed.' He fell in love with sumo wrestling when his Estonian dad, karaoke bar owner Georgi Zilkin, 47, took him on a trip back to his homeland. Nicholas added: 'My dad had connections to a sumo wrestler who reached the highest rank in Japan and he hosts a tournament every year. I managed to win somehow. My opponents were very tough. 'From then on, I realised sumo wrestling was the sport for me.' The last British pro sumo wrestler, Nathan Strange, from Kent, quit the sport in 1990 complaining of bullying by his Japanese stablemates. Watch crazy moment boy, 16, beats huge sumo wrestler more than twice his size in 'David vs Goliath' fight 4 4
