Byambajav Ulambayar Information

Sumo Wrestler
USA

Biography:
Mongolian-born Byambajav Ulambayar competed in sports since he was a child. By age 15, "Byamba" had captured national junior champion titles in judo, sambo, and Mongolian wrestling (the national sport).

At that time, the retired Japanese Grand Champion, Onokuni, visited Mongolia, and held tryouts across the country, scouting for a protege. After testing dozens of young men, he invited only one - Byamba - to join his professional sumo team in Japan.

Byamba entered professional sumo with no knowledge of the sport, the Japanese language, the food, or the culture. Life was not easy, but young "Daishochi" (Byamba's pro sumo fighting name) adapted quickly, and at age 16, he won a divisional championship in professional sumo. By age 18, Byamba was the highest-ranked sumo wrestler on his entire team.

He has won two consecutive World Sumo Champion titles (2006 in Japan & 2007 in Thailand). In 2009, when the World Sumo Championships was not held, Byamba competed in the World Games, which is held every four years and run by the International Olympic Committee. At the competition in Taiwan, Byamba thrilled the crowds, by winning the gold medal - his third World title! He now holds four World Sumo Champion titles.

Byamba continues to develop his own sumo skills, and has also brought an unprecedented level of expertise in training American sumo wrestlers on a regular basis. Many US athletes who train with Byamba see great results in a short period of time. Byamba's presence has been a great boon to the development of American sumo, and his intimate familiarity with every aspect of Japanese sumo culture is extremely rare.