Aussies take top two spots in Pokémon World Championships

An excellent year for Australians in the competitive scene of Pokémon has just gotten all that much more incredible. After 3 days of battles at the Pokémon World Video Game Championships (VGC) in Anaheim, California, two Australians stood at the top of the ladders, taking home the World Champion title in the Juniors Division, and the runner-up title in the Masters Division, both for the first time ever.

Nicholas Kan might be in the Juniors Division, but he’s anything but, having won 3 out of the 4 International Championships in this year’s circuit, and earning 2310 championship points throughout the season, enough points to qualify for Worlds almost 10 times over. It’s no surprise, then, that Nicholas would make it through to the Grand Final against Spain’s Tomás Serrano. It’s also no surprise that Nicholas would sweep through Tomás’ team like a hurricane to win the title of World Champion in just two (admittedly very close) battles.

Sam Pandelis fought his way through the Masters Division to find himself in the finals against Japan’s Ryota Otsubo. After a strong first battle from Sam, it looked like Australia would be bringing home two World Champion titles, but despite some extremely strong plays, Ryota’s quick thinking in the second and third rounds sealed the deal and Ryota came away with the win. But that doesn’t take away from what Sam has achieved; his performance in this year’s World Championships has been the best of any Australian in the Masters Division in the history of the competition.

Congratulations to both Nicholas and Sam!