Sumosize

How much do sumo wrestlers eat? Lots, obviously. But what if they are on a diet? Former wrestlers Hiroyuki Tachibana and Kenichiro Motohashi...

How much do sumo wrestlers eat? Lots, obviously. But what if they are on a diet? Former wrestlers Hiroyuki Tachibana and Kenichiro Motohashi, models for the ongoing Idea Cellular campaign, are used to litres of beer and the heavy chanko-nabe seafood-chicken-pork-beef stew. Plus a litre of milk every day, and the mandatory four-hour nap that used to follow lunch. They also claim they could easily polish off 50 dosas in one sitting.

All of which makes it easy to comprehend why champion sumo wrestlers weigh as much as 250 kilos. But Tachibana, 33, and Motohashi, 23, are cutting down to suit their new vocation.

Sitting down for lunch at a luxury hotel in Pune during a three-day stopover, the two are tired and hungry after demonstrating a few wrestling techniques at a roadshow for the service operator.

They order teppanyaki and sushi, and the sous chef promises to return with the food in 30 minutes.

Motohashi was picked to become a sumo wrestler when he was 10 thanks to his weight8212;80 kg.

8216;8216;I want to get married,8217;8217; he explains, 8216;8216;and I also find it really difficult to get clothes my size.8217;8217;

THE BIG BITE

8226; A sumo aspirant must be, at a minimum, 173 cm tall and 75 kg
8226; A wrestler needs to consume 18-20,000 calories a day
8226; A wrestler8217;s average life expectancy is about 65, 10 years less than the average Japanese man
8226; Konishiki, a Hawaiian sumo wrestler, weighed 625 pounds at the height of his career. He could finish 70 pieces of sushi and 100 bottles of beer in one sitting
8226; A sumo wrestler8217;s training regime includes a special massage that manipulates their intestines in order to be able to eat more
8226; Wrestlers have gotten 30 per cent heavier since 1953; in 1999, a 8216;fat test8217; was introduced for the first time by the Japan Sumo Association

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But health concerns don8217;t trouble him much. 8216;8216;As long as I can move around comfortably, I am not worried,8217;8217; he says. He spends 2,50,000 Yen Rs 1.06 lakh each month on food. His favourite dish is ramen, a kind of noodle soup.

In fact, instant noodles is the one food item the wrestlers carried with them to India.

8216;8216;When I get homesick for some food, all I have to do is pour boiling water on the noodles, and they are ready,8217;8217; says Motohashi. He is taking back cartons of tea, which he enjoys drinking, from India .

When the meal arrives, Motohashi hurries to fetch soy sauce to garnish his teppanyaki. And the meal, which took a good half hour to prepare, disappears in 10 minutes.

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Later the sous chef reveals, 8216;8216;Each portion of sushi has five pieces in it. A normal person can just about manage to eat seven pieces of sushi. And I served them four portions of sushi and six teppanyakis. 8217;8217;