Sumo wrestlers from around the world will face off at Cal State Long Beach for the 14th annual “U.S. Sumo Open” competition — a nationwide televised event of one of the largest annual tournaments in the world.
This month, more than 70 sumo wrestlers from countries such as Brazil, Russia and Japan, will be competing on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid, according to the event’s press release.
This event is “one of the world’s premiere sumo competitions, and the largest annual sumo tournament in the world, outside of Japan, and has been held all over Los Angeles for 13 years,” according to the press release.
Andrew Freund, an English-as-a-second-language instructor at University of California, Los Angeles will be directing this year’s event and has been directing the “U.S. Sumo Open” for the past 13 years.
“After watching sumo wrestling in [Japan] in the 1990s, I thought it was interesting,” Freund said. “I then decided to start a club at UCLA, and had my first ‘U.S. Sumo Open’ tournament in 2001 at UCLA’s gym.”
With “nearly 20 years” of experience in competing in sumo, some of the things he said he does as director include serving as a judge, event producer, coordinating and inviting all 70 athletes from across world. He said he also interacts with the wrestlers to prepare them for the event.
“Almost every day, I coach them, train with them, drive them, produce events with the elite wrestlers and much more,” Freund said.
Freund said that one does not need to be a sumo wrestling expert to understand what will take place at the event.
“In sumo, if it’s the first time you’re watching it, you can see right away who wins because it’s easy to understand [the sport],” Freund said.
Paul Murchal, a member of the wrestling club on campus, will be competing in the “U.S. Sumo Open” event. Murchal said that one reason he is competing is because sumo sounded like an interesting undertaking for him.
“This is my second time doing sumo,” Murchal said. “It’s a lot of fun and you don’t know what to expect from the opponent. Don’t underestimate your enemy.”
Tickets will be sold to the general public for $25. For CSULB students and faculty, tickets will be sold for $10 if they mention the promo code “BEACH” to the box office or when ordering tickets online.