Pokemon Trainers Head To Hawaii For 2012 Pokemon Video Game World Championships

The world’s best Pokémon video game players will be saying “Aloha, Hawaii!” this summer. This news comes after a host of hopefuls demonstrated their skills this past weekend in a true contest of champions, with the victors winning competition places and Travel Awards to the 2012 Pokémon Video Game World Championships, taking place this August in Waikoloa, Hawaii, U.S.A.

New for this year, players were able to build their teams using Pokémon selected from the full National Pokédex, and competitors battled using copies of the Pokémon Black Version or Pokémon White Version video games for the Nintendo DS^TM family of systems.

The winning players were drawn from three different age divisions—Junior, Senior, and Masters—and proved themselves with superb displays of skill and strategy during the 2012 Pokémon Video Game National Championships held at the NEC in Birmingham.

Those players now have the opportunity to test their mettle against some of the best Pokémonvideo game players from around the globe, including competitors from the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Korea, and across Europe.

Here are the top finishers by division and in order of placement:

JUNIOR DIVISION

1^st Ahren Bundy, 8, England

2^nd Stergios Vlachopoulos,10, England

3^rd Ryan Bradford, 10, England

4^th Keilan Urch, 9, Wales

SENIOR DIVISION

1^st George Langford, 11, Turkey

2^nd Maksim Cannavo, 13, Italy

3^rd Anant Patel, 14, England

4^th Edward Thompson, 13, England

MASTERS DIVISION

1^st Ben Kyriakou,19, England

2^nd Daniel Whisson, 25, England

3^rd Benjamin Gedaschke, 25, Germany

These Pokémon Trainers will be joined by other successful Pokémon video game players competing in National competitions in other countries throughout Europe. The full list of dates and locations for the 2012 Pokémon Video Game National Championships in Europe is:

March 3^rd, Birmingham, UK — NEC, Hall 11
March 10^th, Essen, Germany— Messe Essen, Halle 1A
March 17^th, Paris, France— Espace Champerret, Hall C
March 24^th, Madrid, Spain— IFEMA, Pabellón 5
April 1^st, Milan, Italy— Centro Congressi Milanofiori, Strada 1

The top Pokémon Trainers in each division at the National Championships earn invitations to the ultimate stage—the 2012 Pokémon Video Game World Championships in Hawaii on August 10^th–12^th—where they will battle against players from all over the globe. Players at the World Championships have a chance to win travel packages, trophies, and special Pokémon prize packages.

[Source – Press Release]