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Ganbold Bazarsad was born and raised in Ulan Bator. It has been reported that he lived in the same apartment complex as later "makuuchi" contemporary Shōtenrō, though they never met in person. During his school years, he was focused on basketball and only participated in Mongolian wrestling occasionally as recreation. But after seeing the well-known Mongolian sumo wrestler Kyokutenhō in action, he was inspired to try out sumo. He came to Japan in 2000 with an invitation to try out for Tatsunami stable through a connection with Kyokutenhō's contemporary Kyokushūzan, and entered sumo in March, 2001, the same tournament as the later Mongolian "yokozuna" Hakuhō.