Spectators at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham will have the rare opportunity to watch one of the oldest sports on the planet when sumo wrestlers battle for the gold, silver and bronze medals.

Deeply rooted in Japanese culture and about 1,500 years old, sumo is gaining popularity around the world, including in the United States. Of the 96 men and women who have qualified to compete in sumo at TWG 2022, 19 are from the United States.

Two of those American sumo stars are Trent Sabo, who will compete in the lightweight men’s division, and Eros Armstrong, who will compete in the heavyweight women’s division. Both embody the passion, strength, grit and perseverance it takes to compete.

At 190 pounds, Sabo is a veteran of the sport competing in his fourth edition of The World Games. He has “mental and physical toughness and a refuse-to-lose spirit,” said Kelly Gneiting, a five-time U.S. sumo champion. Gneiting noted that Sabo is the perfect example of an athlete who sacrifices for his passion. Sabo quit his job and lived out of his Ford Probe for eight months so he could focus all his attention and time training for the 2004 Sumo World Cup held in the Netherlands.

“All for sumo. All for a pureness of attainment unfathomable by the masses,” said Gneiting.

Sabo won his weight division at that World Cup.

Today, Sabo, 40, is a truck driver and one of the few American sumo wrestlers to have had success on the international scene in the past few decades. He is coming off a silver-medal finish in the 2017 World Games held in Wroclaw, Poland, and is a 14-time U.S. champion in the lightweight division.

Sumo wrestling began 1,500 years ago, making it one of the world’s oldest sports, and it continues at a high level in The World Games. (contributed)

Armstrong, age 32 and 288 pounds, is a relative newcomer to sumo, having gotten involved in the sport in 2019. She calls making the U.S. team for The World Games 2022 “my crowning achievement so far, but my real goal is to see what I can bring to the world stage.”

At TWG 2022, she’s hoping to hold up both the Texas flag and the American flag and dedicate her victory to her recently deceased grandfather.

Armstrong, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served overseas, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and says she feels “a sense of peace” when she enters the ring.

“My sport gives me the chance to challenge my PTSD,” Armstrong said. “I don’t know if you know, but PTSD is not fun and takes a lot out of life. Sumo wrestling is giving that back.”

Armstrong, Sabo and the 94 other men and women who compete at TWG 2022 will experience sumo that “is of a very high standard and in recent years has served as the de facto world championship in years that it is held,” according to a recent article in The Japan Times. “The limited number of available spots and tight schedule also means that generally only the best amateur athletes from around the globe are involved.”

Sumo explained

Although it’s closely associated with heavyweights, there are three weight classes in the sumo competition at TWG 2022 for both men and women: heavyweight, middleweight and lightweight. There is also an open weight class, which allows athletes of all weight classes to compete against each other. Men compete against men and women against women.

Prior to starting the bout in the ring – called the dohyō, which is made of sand and clay – both sumo wrestlers go through ancient ceremonial preparations such as clapping their hands, stamping their feet and tossing salt into the ring.

The competitors attempt to force each other out of the dohyō or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of their feet.

Punching, poking, kicking the chest or abdominal areas, taking hold of the opponent’s hair or throat, and biting are not allowed.

At the initial charge of the match, both wrestlers must jump up from a crouched position simultaneously after touching the surface of the ring with two fists.