Sumo star's rise from novice to international

In less than a year, Nathan Rault has gone from never stepping into the ring to becoming an international sumo wrestler.

The Southampton-based wrestler, who is originally from Jersey, took up the sport last June and has not looked back.

He fights at the English Championships this month before eyeing up the European Championships in June and travelling to the World Championships in Azerbaijan in October.

"I moved to the UK, I got unfit like most people did over Covid, and needed to find something to do and sumo kind of fell into my lap," explained the former rugby player to BBC Radio Jersey.

He trains at Southampton Sumo Club and says his time playing rugby for teams like Beeches, Les Quennevais and Royals in Jersey has stood him in good stead for his new sport.

"I'm learning really fast and obviously coming from a rugby background, a lot of the hitting is quite second nature," he said.

"I was quite good as a ball carrier in rugby and it's pretty much the same stance, the same sort of power you're using.

"You're just coming off from the ground straight at each other as hard as you can, so everything I've been training for in rugby has gone straight across into that."

Rault is looking for sponsorship to help with his international ambitions and hopes more people will take up the famed Japanese sport in this country.

"To me, it's an amazing sport," he said.

"It's so easy to get into and the community is very nice. Everyone can get involved as there's weight categories - it's not just big guys like myself."