Pictured: The 20st sumo girl... aged just 14



At the age of 14 and weighing in at 20 stone, Samantha-Jane Stacey is born to be a sumo wrestler.



She will be aiming for sporting glory as the youngest Australian to participate in the world wrestling sumo championships this month in Estonia.

Much focus will be on the championships after the sport, plagued with recent scandals, was hit with yet another controversy as three wrestlers admitted beating up a junior trainee who later died.

Born to wrestle: Samantha-Jane will represent Australia at the world sumo championships in Estonia this month

The sport has also been hit with drugs and match-fixing scandals recently.



But none of that bothers Samantha-Jane.

Affectionately known as 'Sammy Sumo', she trains on a diet of Weetbix and lasagne.

Samantha-Jane says she is 'really proud to represent' her country but at the moment is more worried about getting through the 32-hour flight.

It is perhaps no surprise that Samantha-Jane was introduced to the sport by brother Blake.

'We watched bouts on video and researched the sport on the internet. You don't have to be big to take part.

Bout: Samantha-Jane wrestles Aaron Stapleton above, and below, takes on a female opponent at the 18th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in New South Wales



'I was training with Blake and his coach saw me and asked if I wanted to take part in a competition. I've really been into it ever since.'

Samantha-Jane says she does not try to put on weight but concentrates on a balanced diet to keep her fit for the fight.

'I'm naturally a big girl. I don't have to eat anything extra.

'I have a medical condition that does not allow me to lose the weight. A side effect of that means I look obese. But I do have a healthy diet.'

Samantha-Jane's favourite food is Weetbix, which she eats with banana and strawberries for breakfast.

She will typically have a chicken sandwich for lunch and a chicken salad for dinner. Her vice is her father Warren's speciality, lasagne.

Samantha-Jane trains every day on the beach.

Aussie team: Samantha-Jane with fellow Australian wrestlers Kelsie Homer, 18, and Vanessa Homer, 14

'We practice our moves and undergo training to learn how to break your fall without hurting yourself,' she said.



Samantha-Jane's father Warren Stacey says his daughter was born for sumo.

'Her uncles were close to seven feet tall and weighed 180 to 200 kilograms, so that sort of thing runs in the family.'

Today the three wrestlers accused of beating up a junior trainee who later died admitted their guilt in court, according to reports.

The death of the trainee in June 2007 sent shockwaves across the country as the boy's father spoke of his son's battered body and prompted the Japanese government to order the tradition-bound game to clean up its act.

The three wrestlers, all in their 20s, were accused of beating the trainee with a metal bat during sparring practice, a day after clobbering him for hours with a beer bottle and a wooden stick, Kyodo news agency said. The trainee died that day.

The defence argued in the court in Nagoya, central Japan, that the wrestlers had acted on the instructions of their sumo gym leader, or stablemaster, Kyodo reported.

A court official, who declined to comment on details, said a date for a verdict had not been set.

Worth her weight: Despite her size Samantha-Jane says she has a healthy diet

The stablemaster, according to local media, has denied instructing the three wrestlers to beat up the trainee, but has been fired by the sumo association and is awaiting trial in the case.

"I want them to tell the truth without hiding anything," Masato Saito, the trainee's father, told a group of reporters outside the courtroom as he held a photo of his son in his arms.

A Japan Sumo Association spokeswoman declined comment on the case, which has highlighted sumo's harsh training practices and the closed, rigid society of the male-only sport in which wrestlers wearing loincloths tussle in a rope-lined dirt ring.

The sport retains many traditional Shinto religious overtones and still makes much of its pageantry and rituals, but fans have been dismayed by a long list of recent scandals ranging from drugs to match-fixing.

Two Russian wrestlers tested positive for marijuana and were expelled from the sport last month, shortly after another Russian wrestler, Wakanoho, was arrested for suspected marijuana possession.

The JSA chairman resigned over the drug scandal. Sumo authorities, long accused of being a clique of former wrestlers, brought in outsiders to its board to improve management.

Last week, Wakanoho told a news conference he was bullied into taking cash to throw matches, intensifying media focus on a court case in which the JSA is suing a publisher for a magazine article on match-fixing.





