Sumo.
To most people, it's just big blokes in big G-strings.
But... there's more to it than that.
It's about your balance,
your technique,
your speed
and your skills.
Most people don't realise
that the Australian sumo scene is alive and slapping.
So I'm hitting the road
to see what it takes to be a modern amateur sumo.
Back in 2010, I was working at a TV station in Outback Australia
when I discovered that Australia was looking for amateur sumos
to join their ranks.
So, I trained, I ate, and for some reason I waxed.
- That was a beautiful one. - Oh, that was a painful one.
And I tried to become as sumo as I could in three months,
only to cop this in my first and last amateur sumo bout.
Stop!
What do you do?
Seven years on, a little less fit and a little more fat,
I've decided to give it another shot,
but this time, I'm going to get the lowdown from the experts,
before I compete at the Oceania Sumo Championships.
So I'm up in northern NSW
and I'm about to meet someone who is quite possibly
Australia's biggest sumo fan.
I've been following sumo now for more than 30 years.
My name's Katrina Watts, I'm a sumo commentator
and was once called the Richie Benaud of sumo commentary.
People are a little bit surprised to find that the sumo expert is a woman.
Professional sumo in Japan is a man's world.
When Katrina returned to Australia
she headed up the Australian Sumo Federation,
to promote sumo to Aussies.
People generally don't expect there to be either amateur sumo
or women doing sumo.
If I see, you know, a sporty girl
and I say, "Oh, would you like to try sumo?",
their reaction is "Oh, sumo, no, no, I'm not fat!
"Oh, sumo, no, it's not very ladylike."
In sumo we look for fit, not fat.
There are three weight divisions in amateur sumo,
light, middle and heavyweight.
Hi, boys, how are we?
- Good, thank you. - Welcome to Australia.
Mark and Leo are the NZ sumo team.
Both boys are heavyweights, with Mark clocking in at 250 kilos.
So how much of sumo training is eating?
Oh, it's a big part, especially if you want to be a heavyweight.
And how many calories a day would you be eating generally?
10,000 calories, yeah.
10,000 calories is roughly one kilo of beef, two kilos of taro,
20 eggs, one loaf of bread and one kilo of bananas.
- Should we get some food? - Oh, we should.
Don't tell me, do you want fish and chips?
Yeah, fish and chips, yeah.
Could I get three plates of fish and chips?
- Make sure they're sumo size. - Okay, sumo size, no problem.
After I ordered, it became apparent that Mark had already eaten.
I had about six eggs, toast, bacon.
- Six eggs? - Yeah. That's not enough.
How many eggs could you eat in one sitting?
- Maybe 15, 20. - Eggs?
Yeah.
On the whole most Polynesians, they don't try to get big, really,
they just get big.
Which could help explain why the most successful sumo in Australia
is Polynesian.
Minami originally comes from Tonga, and sumo runs in his family.
- Minami, how are you? - Good, thank you. Come in.
My dad was a former sumo wrestler.
I was a professional sumo wrestler in Japan for seven years.
In fact, Minami is such a boss at sumo,
he refuses to enter any serious bouts in Australia.
I haven't seen anyone that have the same skills as what I have.
So when people think of sumo, what do they think of?
Being a fat person. If they get to know more about the sport,
it's not really about the weight.
If you have the balance and the technique,
and skill, speed, you could be impossible to beat.
Does size come into play, though?
Or can, you know, a skinny guy like me have a chance?
Like they say, size is just a number.
Given Minami's experience,
I wanted him to tell me where I went wrong seven years ago.
You're starting good, you have your head low,
your body low, keeping your chin close.
The more... when you stand up, that's it, it's like Game Over.
I almost started crying.
Have you ever felt like crying after you've lost a sumo bout?
Ah, yep, a couple of times.
Big men like us do cry.
Minami agreed to give me some tips, to stop it happening again.
POUNDING ROCK MUSIC
Bring it from down there.
And now I can't come under, so if you have the belt here, I can pull you.
This, together with this, and your chest.
Really? (THUMP!)
Oh, Jesus Christ!
Minami was a great teacher, and I thought
"If I'm going to enter a sumo tournament, I need a sumo name."
I was thinking about a name for myself,
and one thing I really like is Japanese sticky rice.
Oh, yeah?
Mochigome, sticky rice!
Oh, ah, yeah?
Okay, so he didn't like the name.
The next battle is making it through the sumo championships
with my dignity intact.
In this leafy northern Sydney suburb, people are unaware
that the biggest amateur sumo event in the southern hemisphere
is about to take place.
Weighing in at 75 kilos means I'm in the lightweight division
and in amateur sumo,
it's generally the division with the most amount of competition.
Everyone must wear a big G-string called a mawashi.
I think it's made for a bigger guy.
As they put the finishing touches on the ring,
or the dohyM, as it's properly known,
I assure my fiancée that I will make our wedding, in two weeks' time.
- Please don't hurt yourself. - Right.
Nothing above the face and nothing below the waist.
That gives you this much.
You know, in Japan, sumos are seen as sex symbols.
Interesting. Well, yeah, it's really doing it for me at the moment!
Game on. My first opponent looks like David Pocock's love child.
Nervously, I get smashed in the first and second bout.
My third bout, I summoned Minami and I gave it everything I had.
That was epic.
The judges were split over who went out first,
so they went for a re-match.
And with that, I won my first-ever sumo bout.
It wasn't enough to win, but...
In fourth place, Will Reid.
APPLAUSE
As I watched on, I realised that my original idea of amateur sumo
is very different to the reality.
Yes, there are big blokes involved, but they are actually the minority.
And just because you have 200 kilos, it doesn't mean you'll win.
In fact, the guy that won my lightweight division
took out the entire championships after taking on the big boys.
And as luck would have it, he turned out to be from the Czech Republic
and not from a country within Oceania,
so this makes him ineligible for a medal.
So that means that technically
you are third place in Oceania Men's Lightweight.
Here is your third place medal.
Thank you!
Congratulations, you did very well. Well done!
Well done, Will!