Kasugafuji Akihiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, Died at 51

  Sports

Kasugafuji Akihiro was born Shoki Iwanaga on February 20, 1966, and died on March 9, 2017.

He was a Japanese sumo wrestler and coach from Oshika, Miyagi.

He was an active wrestler in professional sumo from 1981 until 1996, reaching a highest rank of maegashira 1.

When he retired, Iwanaga re-established the Kasugayama stable in 1997 and trained his own wrestlers.

Kasugafuji Akihiro left the Japan Sumo Association in 2012 after an expenses scandal, and was involved with a legal dispute in 2013 with his successor as head of Kasugayama stable which was not resolved until shortly before his death in 2017.

Kasugafuji Akihiro passed away at 51 years old.