Japan female mayor loses fight to speak from sumo ring

This handout picture taken on April 6, 2018 and released by Takarazuka City shows Tomoko Nakagawa (centre), the mayor of the western Japanese city of Takarazuka, delivering a speech outside the sumo ring during a local exhibition in Takarazuka, Hyogo prefecture. -AFP/Takarazuka City

A female Japanese mayor was barred Friday from delivering a speech inside a sumo ring a day after controversy erupted over a longstanding ban on women entering the sport’s rings.

On Thursday Japan’s sumo association chief made headlines at home and abroad after issuing an apology to several women who were ordered out of a sumo ring while trying to offer life-saving medical assistance.