TOKYO (AP) — Ukrainian sumo wrestler Aonishiki is only 21 but has moved just one step from the top rank of Japan's national sport.

In an elaborate ceremony on Wednesday, he was promoted by the Japan Sumo Association to the rank of ozeki, the rung just below the top.

Only two now hold the top rank of yokozuna — grand champion in English: Japanese Onosato and Mongolia-born Hoshoryu.

"I’m happy but I feel more strongly about working harder from now on,” Aonishiki said Wednesday after the ceremony. “There is a higher rank, and that’s my next goal.”

Sumo's new rising star, who wrestles under the ring name of Aonishiki Arata, was born Danilo Yavhushyshyn in west central Ukraine and has identified his hometown as Vinnytsia.

He moved to Japan after Russia invaded Ukraine just over 3 1/2 y

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