TOKYO - A RUSSIAN sumo wrestler who was recently kicked out of Japan's ancient sport after being arrested on a drugs charge has said he was forced to lose fights.

Mr Wakanoho, whose real name is Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev, told a news conference on Monday he had been bullied into taking cash to throw matches.

'I was forcibly handed money to fight unfair bouts,' the 20-year-old said. 'If I refused I was bullied. I want to make the sumo world clean again.'

Mr Wakanoho was fired by the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) last month after police arrested him on suspicion of possessing a small amount of marijuana.

'As far as marijuana is concerned, the bosses and wrestlers who are smoking it are not being punished,' said the Russian.

'I will talk more about the bad things in sumo in the future.'

Mr Wakanoho's dismissal marked the first time a wrestler had been booted out of sumo, and was quickly followed by two more Russians testing positive for the drug.

They too were expelled from the sport and JSA Chairman Kitanoumi resigned over the scandal. All three wrestlers have denied smoking marijuana.

The image of sumo, which historians say dates back 2,000 years and retains many traditional Shinto religious overtones, has taken a battering of late.

Last year, the head of one gym was arrested on suspicion of assault leading to the death of a teenage trainee who had talked about quitting.

The case sent shockwaves across the country as the boy's father spoke of his son's battered body and prompted the Japanese government to order sumo to clean up its act.

In another scandal last year, one of sumo's biggest names Asashoryu swapped his loincloth for a pair of soccer boots to play in a charity game in his native Mongolia after having withdrawn from a regional sumo tour with injury. -- REUTERS