details about novak djokovic's appeal. and an eerie calm settling over kazakhstan, after the president gave a shoot to kill order to quell the protests. okay. we begin in the u.s., because that's where covid cases are soaring to record levels. driven by the super contagious omicron variant. infections are now averaging more than 660,000 per day. this map gives you a sense of the dramatic spread across the nation, with cases surging in nearly every state. child hospitalizations are at an all-time high as well. some of the largest increases are in children under 5 who are not authorized to be vaccinated yet. hospitalizations in that group are up 48% from a little more than a month ago. and with the public skexasperat by what seems like an endless pattern of covid surges americans want to know when will it end. in a news conference on friday, president joe biden was asked if this was going to be the new normal. >> no, i don't think covid is here to stay. but having covid in the environment here in the world and in the environment is probably here to stay. but covid as we're dealing with now is not here to stay. the new normal doesn't have to stay, we have so many tools we're developing. >> some health experts say any type of new normal will likely be living with covid much like the flu. a cnn adviser spoke with anderson cooper on friday and he explained what it would take to get past the exorbitant case numbers that we're seeing now. >> unfortunately, if you vaccinate today, the people who are unvaccinated if you account for 75% of the hospitalizations it's not really going to make a big difference over the next month, because they need a second shot and then 14 days after the second shot. public health measures that we've mentioned, better air quality, masking, not going into crowded indoor spaces, those are really important measures in order to get past omicron. you need to plan today for three months from now, so we're not caught in the same problem. >> as omicron fueled cases grow in the u.s., so does frustration over the mixed messaging coming from the cdc over isolation periods, cnn correspondent alexandra field explains. >> i'm honored to join you today. >> reporter: facing not with criticism, the cdc director speaking out. >> this is hard, and i am committed and to continue to improve as we learn more about the science and to communicate that with all of you. >> reporter: the agency under fire again, this time for confusing guidance on isolation, as people, businesses and schools forge their own way forward. >> people just want to be safe. i mean, it is -- it is a surge that we are concerned about. >> reporter: in california's bay area, teachers are protesting current protocols staging a sick-out. in chicago, still fighting for in-person learning with the teachers voting to go remote. the schools cancelled for a third day. >> it's our kids that are affected by it and parents need to be at that table as well. >> reporter: but a major push from the past comes from one of the nation's most prominent hospitals children's hospital of philadelphia says even in significant times of transmission kids should be in school. the hospital supports putting more exposed and students ba back in class with masks and calls for less asymptomatic individuals. >> the new normal will look like a future where we have sars-cov-2, it's not a crisis. it's not devastating our public health the way we see it today. rrp six former advisers to president joe biden are now calling for new measures in the white house to move americans more quickly towards a new normal. among the suggestions quicker updates with the vaccines to keep pace with the changing environments. >> covid is going to be around us, just like the flu is around us. and we're going to have to live with that and we're going to have to bring the mortality rates down to make it so we can go back to our normal everyday lives. >> reporter: at the supreme court, justices are hearing arguments about covid vaccine mandates affecting some businesses. that as new york's governor announced she'll require boosters for all health care workers the first state in the nation to do so. >> you'd want to make sure everyone taking care of you is protected. >> reporter: moderna saying the fourth shot may be needed by fall with hospitalizations approaching all-time high and as the average number of daily cases tops 600,000. the governor of west virginia says the time for the fourth shot to hear, governor jim justice requesting permission from the cdc and fda an extra booster. on that question, dr. walensky is saying people need to get a third shot before the fourth shot. 35% of those eligible for boosters have actually had a booster, despite what we know about how effective the booster is. alexandra field, cnn, new york. >> we just heard a little bit in alexandra's report about the children's hospital of philadelphia and the guidance they've put out aimed at putting kids in classrooms. the prominent health care system said in a statement, we've evidenced that infection in most children and at a time where all adults and youth in k-12 settings have been offered vaccination, children's philadelphia and policylab support in-person education, even in times of significant community transmissions. that new guidance, continued indoor masking regardless of vaccination status. people with respiratory illness must stay home. those with illness should get tested if there's high risk of severe infection. discontinue weekly testing many people with no symptoms. allow exposed but asymptomatic individuals to come coming to school under modified quarantine. and encourage vaccination and booster shots. so here's some health experts on in-person learning. >> our updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine and our prior publications and continued assessment of test-to-stay protocols in schools provide the tools necessary to get these schools reopen for in-person learning. and to keep them open for the rest of the school year. >> it's safe enough to get those kids back to school. balanced against the deleterious effects. >> we know what it takes to keep kids safe in schools. >> we need our children to be in school. >> most importantly, socialization, social development, the kids sorely missed last year. >> now, a serious debate over the safety of returning to the classroom is playing out in chicago. public school classes have been cancelled there since wednesday after teamers said they could not work safely. the teachers' union voted to work remotely but the district called a work stoppage. chicago's mayor says in-person learning is safe. >> our kids need to be back in school. schools are safe. there's been no question about that. we have, as all school systems across our city, across our state and our nation, when there's a need to shut down a classroom or even a school, because of the surge, we've been doing that. we've been doing that all year long. so, this is an unnecessary and illegal work stoppage. and i've drawn the line. we are not going to remote for the whole system. it's completely unnecessary. >> now, talks between the union and the district are ongoing. but the mayor says she wants kids back in classrooms monday. and a lawsuit has been filed by a group of parents over the standoff. take a listen to what one chicago mother told cnn. >> i had sent him back five days a week with a mask on in september 2020. i will send him back, as soon as he can go back in, he's back in. my son is fully vaccinated. we have him tested regularly. you wear a mask and you send your kids to school. i feel like i have very little say isn't what happens. and i'm a pretty -- i'm a pretty involved parent in my son's school. but i feel like i'm completely at the mercy of what the union wants to do. >> now, i want to turn to australia now and that's where a very different standoff over covid is also playing out right now in melbourne. n novak djokovic's visa was renounced as he arrived for the australian open. since then, we've seen crowds of supporters gathered at the hotel where he's required to stay. djokovic is the defending men's singles champion. he made his first public comments on friday, thanking his fans, as remains confined in an immigration center. we've also learned that a czech player has had her visa revoked as well. the czech government said she decided to withdraw from the tournament and was seen leaving the detention center a short time ago. cnn's angus watson is standing by in sydney. good to see you there. angus, i understand we've learned a lot more about djokovic and why he thought he could fly to australia in the first place. what you can tell us? >> reporter: that's right, ivan. what at extraordinary situation where the men's number one tennis player, one of the most recognizable faces in sport is holed up in an immigration detention facility in australia. he'll be there until at least monday, that's when a judge will hear the injunction order that he's trying to get past. his lawyers have the case in court. interesting in the documents, firstly we all presumed that novak djokovic was unvaccinated because of anti-vaxer comments he made in the past. now, we have confirmed that he is in fact unvaccinated. when he arrived in atraustralia. he hut put together a report that he covid and recovered from it. that precluded him, his lawyers will say, from receiving a covid-19 vaccination. and that's according to the immunization body that say is it may be dangerous to get vaccinated so close after a covid infection. we've heard after he's stuck in the facility his lawyers have requested that he might move in a more suitable place where he can practice his tennis, in case he is able to contest the australian open grand slam, to defend the title that he won in 2021. that will all play out on monday. until then, ivan, the world's number one tennis player is stuck in an immigration detention facility. tennis australia wants its champion to play. it hasn't made a public statement since he's been held by federal officials. instead of, the ceo of tennis australia craig taly made a statement that was leaked to press. here's what he had to say. >> there's a lot of finger pointing going on and blaming going on i assure you our team has done an unbelievable job, everything they could, according to instructions. >> the case has caused outrage in australia. a lot of people are upset as we fight covid with high vaccination rates. that the tennis association to consider helping the player. >> the check player voravova has opted to leave. we have to keep watching to see how djokovic's case plays out. angus watson in sydney, thank you for that update. now, former tennis pro-sam shriver, she won 133 championship titles in her career. shriver spoke earlier with cnn's erin burnett with the need for social media to be respectful of djokovic during a very difficult time. >> what i think the support is for social media to treat one of tennis' ever greatest champion with respect and a difficult time for everybody. i mean, you can be critical of somebody being anti-vax and showing up in a country that made it clear you need to be double-vaxed but at the end of the day, i think we all want people in our sport to be treated with respect, with empathy. i think that's been done for the most part. obviously, monday say big day to see what the judicial system does. but the federal government has made it clear, border patrol, said his exemption did not warrant entry into the country. >> a call for respect or social media. all right. coming up, kazakhstan's president has ordered deadly force could be used against anti-government protesters. and he says the brutal response is in his words, yielding results. that story is ahead. plus, nato displays a united front of next week's high-stakes talks between the u.s. and russia. we'll have a report from moscow coming up. ...andnd 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jardiance. welcome back. an eerie quiet has fallen over kazakhstan. that's where security forces are under orders to kill protesters without warning. the president gave the order friday after days of deadly anti-government protests. he now says the situation has stabilized in the larger city amatty. a local journalist tells cnn security forces are in charge of government buildings that were partly burned during the protests. still, the u.s. has approved a voluntary departure of nonessential staff from its consulate there. mean troops from a russian-led military alliance are coming in. the group says what they call peacekeepers will grow to 3600. and the u.s. is asking why they're needed in the first place. >> it would seem to me that the kazakh authority and government certainly have the capacity to deal appropriately with protests to do so in the way that respects the rights of protesters while maintaining law and order. so it's not clear why they feel the need for any outside assistance, so we're trying to learn more about it. i think one recent lesson in history is that once russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave. >> scott mclean is mop touring the situation in kazakhstan, and he joins us now from london. scott, it's no surprise vladimir putin does not like crowds, mobs, threatening authoritarian leaders in the former soviet sphere. and he rushed troops there. it's a very fluid situation on the ground. what's the latest that you're marrying there? >> reporter: hey, ivan, yeah, i think that's certainly and underestimate it is, though, quite difficult to get information in the country. the government has shut down the internet in most places, the president tokayev promised to bring it back in piecemeal fashion. it's happening in the capital but not in the afternoonest city almaty. we did get a dispatch yesterday, saw the agents, they're firing warning shots at people who get too close. the journalists also saw bodies with bullet holes in them. the remains of a gun store that had been looted. people out trying to buy the essentials, but no protests. the president, it seems, has succeeded in restoring some order to the city. but he's probably not -- not succeeded in actually addressing the concerns that brought people to the streets in the first place. the concerns about inequality and corruption. instead, he's sort of taken the opportunity, or taken this violence and used it to paint the protesters with the same brush calling them gangsters or terrorists trained aboard. he said with terrorists you don't negotiate with them, you have to kill them. the president described counterterrorism operations happening throughout the country. we know according to state media 4,000 people have been detained. several thousand have also been killed on both sides, and president tokayev new today spoke with president putin about that continuing presence of russian troops made up of this alliance of ex-soviet states. the u.s. obviously seems baffled by their presence there. but the kazakh president made quite clear in a speech yesterday that they're welcome. and in further statements continues to say they were welcomed in at the request of his government. even though white house press secretary jen psaki seemed to question whether that was a genuine invitation yesterday, ivan. >> yeah, everybody's got an opinion on this, scott mclean in london, thank you very much for monitoring the situation there. i spoke earlier with an expert on central asia, he tells me that the causes of unrest have been growing in kazakhstan for years despite the country's reputation as an island of stability in the region. >> i think two things that have been festering in kazakhstan for quite some time that kind of pointed to things becoming unstable. one is the widespread corruption that has led to economic inequality. and i think that's been exacerbated over the last couple of years by covid. and in general, the country was on a trajectory where it was constantly experiencing economic growth. and that kind of plateaued and has started to fall. the other issue is the state has not really dealt with how to have a leadership succession from its first president. he stepped down in 2019, but he sort of retained a lot of his power by putting himself on -- heading the national security council. >> russia was so quick to show its support for the government amid the violence the country's defense ministry said nine russian military transport aircraft had landed in kazakhstan with many more on the way. that comes after nato allies met in brussels over the crisis, facing another former soviet republic ukraine. cnn's nic robertson has the latest from moscow. >> reporter: well, with that extraordinary session of nato foreign ministers, the nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg says russia continues to build up troops and more hardware artillery pieces saying that nato is absolutely united in that position. happy to have talks with russia. however, russia's demand that nato should deny ukraine membership was off the table, he said. russia, he described, has put itself in a position where it is not an apparently trustworthy interlocutor because of invasion until part because of its demands it's putting on the table and its ramping up troops. that he said, leads to a very dangerous situation. >> challenge is when you see these buildup combined with the rhetoric, combined with the threat of russia they have actually used force against neighbors before, georgia and ukraine, the capabilities, the rhetoric and the track record, of course, that sends a message that is a real risk for a new armed conflict in europe. >> reporter: the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken who was part of that meeting said that russia is creating a false narrative by saying it is u.s. forces, nato forces, that are a threat to russia close to russia's border. he said what russia is trying to do at the moment by taking the twin-track approach of talking to the united states, talking to nato separately, giving them separate security demands, he said that it in effort to divide nato. >> russia is now demanding that the united states and nato sign treaties to draw forces to central eastern europe and to prevent ukraine from ever joining nato. they want a debate on nato rather focus on the matter at hand which is their aggression towards ukraine. we won't be averted from that issue. >> reporter: nato and the u.s. in alignment many jens stoltenberg saying they have to be prepared for diplomatic favor and if that's the case, very tough sanctions on russia would follow but how to solve this diplomatically really isn't clear, threading that needle finding something that president putin can take away from the talks that he can feel is a success having set such a high bar and something that until going to divide the nato allies that's a tough challenge. nic robertson, cnn, moscow. coming up, rampant covid numbers and mixed messaging are trying the patience of americans looking for relief from covid. ahead on "cnn newsroom," the growing frustration over the government's changing guidelines. and countries across europe scramble to contain the spread of the omicron variant, as soaring cases tax hospitals. a live report from london just ahead. and put 48 hour r freshness and d 1 quarter moisturizers i. dove 0% aluminum deoeodorant lasting protection that's kininder on skin. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. with the new personalpoints program, i answer questions about my goals and the foods i love. i like that the ww personalpoints plan is built just for me. join today for 50% off at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 10th. nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like: just stop. go for a run. go for 10 runs! run a marathon. instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. when you have xfinity, you have 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[cheering] that was awesome. and, the hits won't quit, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. all that entertainment built in. xfinity. a way better way to watch. the omicron variant is complicating more than just health statistics in the u.s. it's also led to recent guidance for the centers for disease control that many are calling confusing. and the agency's director is facing sharp criticism from the white house and the experts within the cdc itself. cnn's gabe cohen explains. >> and we were to go and work on updating -- >> reporter: cdc director dr. rochelle walensky facing renewed criticism from within the white house and her own agency after yet another guidance gaffe. sources telling cnn that cdc are frustrated with walensky's guidance, and between her circumventing guide ince and public criticism, morale at the agency is sinking. >> it really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate. >> reporter: it comes after the cdc cut the covid isolation period from ten days to five making no mention of a negative test. drawing pushback from health experts and contradiction from the surgeon general. >> they have certainly received feedback in question about the role of testing. >> reporter: as well as dr. anthony fauci. >> it's something that absolutely should be considered and i believe the cdc is going to clarify that. >> reporter: they did saying people can test if they want to, but if they test positive they should isolate for five more days. the head of the american medical association says all of this is not only confusing but risking further spread of the virus. dr. tom freeman was cdc director under the obama administration. >> and yes, there are some judgment calls so be frank about them. >> reporter: now, cnn has learned dr. walensky is in media training. for months she's been meeting with a consultant to improve communication skills. today, she held a rare solo news conference. >> this is hard and i'm committed to continue to improve as we learn more about the science and communicate that with all of you. >> reporter: the well regarded infectious disease expert had no government experience before president biden appointed her and has often seemed out of step with the white house and dr. fauci, leading to some abrupt and changing confusion in guidance. in may she announced vaccinated people could stop wearing masks indoors drawing quick criticism it was foo tao soon. and last year, the director had to clarify for schools to be open. >> dr. walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. >> reporter: now, walensky is under fire for not following the cdc's own playbook for explaining guidance. a biden covid adviser tells me the cdc has got to do a better yub communicating what they're doing and why. and that has to happen quickly. >> that's what happens when you lead with the data and science and not lead with a clear communication plan. >> reporter: and dr. freeman surging the white house to move from the cdc to the headquarters in atlanta to make this less partisan and let the subject messaging. and the biden administrator i spoke with told me this is a larger cooperate nation problem across the administration between the white house, the cdc, the fda and the national institutes of health and blame here can't solely fall on dr. walensky. gabe cohen, cnn, washington. >> and now to a very different covid situation, in china, where covid-19 cases are on the rise, despite the nation's zero covid strategy. on friday, the country reported nearly 100, that's right, 100 new locally transmitted infections, almost half from the city of xihen. we've heard revealing residents don't have access to needs including medical scare. now chinese authorities are telling hospitals to except all patients no matter what their covid status is our kristie lu stout has more. >> reporter: i'm kristie lu stout in hong kong. a second pregnant woman has suffered a mischarge due to delayed medical aid according to state media. a chinese premiere is telling hospitals not to turn people away. the xian hospital told cnn they initially turned the first pregnant woman away because they were following rules. after that went viral, the director was suspended and bowed and apologize for angry citizens it is not enough with one saying, quote, covid-19 might not kill you but bureaucrats can. >> professor ben cowing is the chair of epidemiology at the hong kong hospital. i spoke to him earlier about the omicron variant and how hong kong's government is dealing with the rise in infections here. >> right now, we do have omicron in the community, but the government is working very hard to do contact tracing, trying to keep up with the virus and even to get ahead of the virus. i'm a little bit concerned it may be difficult to keep up with omicron because it spreads so fast. and in the past few days there have been more and more cases being picked up. so, i wonder whethered government is going to have to consider bringing in more stringent public health measures. you mentioned in your report, what's happening in the mainland, each time there's an outbreak in the city in the mainland, there's a very stringent depth of interventions implemented to get the case numbers back down to zero again. now, in the uk, the spread of covid cases is putting such a strain on hospitals that british troops have been called in to help with staffing shortages. 200 military personnel have been deployed to hospitals around london where about 4,000 people are currently hospitalized with covid-19. that's more than triple what it was just a month ago. for more on that i'm joined by cnn's nada bashir in london. we're hearing about sick medical staff, how bad has the situation gotten? >> reporter: well, the situation is nearing overwhelming for the national health service the head of the confederation describing it as a perfect stall between patients and cases rising at an alarming rate. and we're seeing a significant number of staff shortages in hospitals across the country. in the week up to january 2nd that increased by nearly 60%. so a significant short fall there in the number of health care staff available because they are getting sick and having to isolate. and that is a concern now, as we continue to see the spread of the omicron variant which is highly transmissible. that this could have another knock-on effect for the health care service. not only having to deal with the surge of cases inpatients but of course, a lack of staff available to really bolster this effort to deal with the spread of the virus. as you mentioned 200 emergency personnel have been deployed in london to support health care workers. and on the previous wave of the pandemic, it's really a reflection of how serious the situation getting, the prime minister himself saying that the health care service is on a weak footing. and there's calls on the government for tougher measures. at this stage, the prime minister has said he's sticking to plan "b." no further restrictions. what that means wearing masks in indoor public spaces on public transport, and if you can, working from home. but we've heard from britain's largest nursing union calling for stricter measures to be enforced to mitigate the impact of these staff shortages and ease pressures on the nhs dealing with the rising cases. there are courses for the government to take tougher action much like the european leaders and germany, france and italy have taken. but at this stage, the prime minister is looking at tougher measures, ivan. >> yeah, i guess he has a different definition of what a war footing it is nada bashir in london, thank you very much. the flight cancellations just keep coming. and this weekend is no exception. we'll look at what's causing this travel chaos, ahead. all th. it's never too late to start. download the ww app today for a 14-day free trial. with voltaren arthritis pain gel. my husband's got his moves 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wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. get $200 off a new eligible 5g phone when you switch to xfinity mobile. talk with our helpful switch squad at your local xfinity store today. the situation is a blinking code red for our nation because the combination of extreme drought, the driest period from june to december ever recorded, ever recorded. unusually high winds, no snow on the ground to start created a tinderbox. >> president joe biden there sounding the alarm on the climate crisis and its impact on wildfires. he was in voluntary friday, meeting with families who lost their homes and businesses in the wildfires that swept through the state last week. more than 1,000 homes were destroyed in the blaze which caused an estimated $500 million in damage. the impact your world team has verified ways viewers can provide help for colorado wildfire victims. you can visit cnn.com/impact. now, airlines have cancelled more than 1,000 u.s. flights today. the website flightaware.com says many were on the east coast. both the omicron variant and a fast moving winter storm are impacting the region. cnn's pete muntean has more. >> reporter: airlines are once again axing flights by the thousands, this time, thanks to the latest snowstorm hitting airports up the east coast. new york's laguardia airport is facing eight new inches of snow. >> if i got stuck here then i probably wouldn't be as happy. but as long as i get home i'll be okay. >> i won't make it in time, i cancelled my flight. i'll try to see hopefully tomorrow if i can find something. >> reporter: but it's winter weather along with airline shortages that have led to a perfect storm of cancellations nationwide. the latest figures from flight aware show that u.s. airlines have cancelled more than 27,000 flights since christmas eve. cancellations so bad this week in atlanta that travelers waited hours to get their checked bags back. >> i went to talk to someone about my bags and they just said they would try their best to get it on my flight. and that was basically all i heard about my bag. >> this is maddening for everybody. >> reporter: an industry analyst said it is unlikely that airlines round the cancellations corner this month. an untold number of airline workers are calling out sick, either because they've been exposed to or infected with coronavirus. >> the random nature of omicron means you that don't know which of your employees are going to get sick, while airlines are trying to take steps to reduce the impact, there's no way they can get to an absolute zero proof level of being disrupted. >> reporter: alaska airlines is the latest carrier to trim its flight schedule. proactively cancelling 10% of january flights, citing the continued impacts of omicron and unprecedented employee sick calls. similar moves have been made by jetblue and delta. southwest airlines cancelled more than 500 flights on friday for the third day in a row. it was so cold at the denver hub on thursday that it actually temporarily halted arrivals at a time. but good news, though, this time of year is typically a slow time for the airlines. . but even still about 1.5 million people are flying each day. pete muntean, cnn, reagan national airport. joining me now is meteorologist derek van dam. derek, it's awful when you're stuck in an airport. but on the flip side, if you're a kid who makes u wakes up to s on a friday morning. i'm going to be self-indulgent, look at this photo my sister sent me from rhode island. my bed-head nephew staring out on a snow day, there's little that makes a kid happier, right? >> yeah, i have so many moments might have childhood life waiting for that call to be made whether your school district was cancelled because of a snowstorm. pure excitement, pure joy. let me show you the antithesis of this, right, this gentleman is plowing the front stoom of h stro stoop of his house in brooklyn new york, he doesn't look as excited agency your nephew does. this is an impactful storm for many in the u.s., closing schools, making kids happy and forcing people to shovel their driveways. we have over a foot of snow in some locations in massachusetts. just under a foot of snow in boston. but as you can see, this is the latest radar. the storm is long gone, just as we predicted it. but there is another storm looming. don't worry, things are going to get spicy once again here in the next 24 hours. just within the past 15, 20 minutes, national weather service hoisted these winter weather advisories across much of new england. that is sunday. we still have the day of saturday so we're going to have a pretty tranquil day today, not in the southwest, grand rapids, chicago, st. louis, you have potential for up to a quarter inch of freezing rain is expected to cross that area. you can see with a high-resolution forecast imagery, clear across the new england coastline. there's the mixture of weather, the snain as i like to call it mixture of rain and snow, and western great lakes, ice accumulation, less than a quarter inch. we could see significantly higher amounts into central pennsylvania as the system moves up and over that region. temperatures are cold this morning. well below freezing for many locations. i want to give you a quick update on a situation that happened in washington just south of seattle yesterday. interstate 5 was closed for a 20-mile period because of the flooding. and the heavy rain that's melted a lot of the snow around the area recently. still, flood watches in place for seattle and to the south. but the good news is, interstate 5 is back open. ivan. >> okay. that's certainly good news here in washington state. derek van dam, thank you very much. sumo wrestling is no longer just for men. after the break, we're going to meet a woman who is helping to change japan's traditional sport. you're going to want to see this. it's never too late to start. join today for 50% off 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women have always been banned. but changing attitudes in japan means there might now be a future for girls and women in sumo. senna kajiwara has been learning sumo since she was 8 years old. she's also ready to topple the barriers to entry of the male-dominated sports. >> translator: people seem to think that sumo is for boys and men, that's why they're easily surprised and even shocked to find out i do it. if we get more girls and women in sumo we'll be able to level the playing field. >> reporter: a number of scandals in recent years have tarnished the reputation of the national sport. in 2018 when a sitting mayor collapsed in the ring, the women trying to save his life were asked to leave. according to tradition, the supposedly impure women would pollute the sacred space. the man's life was saved but the incident sparked a backlash in japan prompting the sumo association to apologize. the following year the inaugural wanpaku girls national sumo championship was held in tokyo. the event had been open to boys since 1984, but only now girls age 8 to 12 getting a shot. >> translator: i do hurt myself sometimes, but i didn't get scared at all when i'm in the ring. >> reporter: seneca was a defending champion. >> translator: sumo is a national sport, senna can be quite earnest, the tournament can be determined in an instant. i think sumo suits her character. >> reporter: the 12-year-old made it to the final of wanpaku in 2021, but looked as though she was on the brink of defeat. however, she turned it around and successfully defended her title. >> translator: i was so nervous to go there. i won the championship when i was in fourth grade so i felt a lot of pressure and expectation this time. in the future, i want to keep up sumo and go as far as i can with it. >> reporter: don riddell, cnn. i'm ivan watson. for our viewers in the u.s., "new day" is next. and for our international viewers "ecosolutions" is coming up next. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. with 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