Santee's Abram Burrows Wins 2012 Pokémon World Championships

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Team USA represented America proudly – both at the London Games and this past weekend at 2012 Pokémon World Championships in Waikoloa, Hawaii. Santee’s own Abram Burrows, 11, placed first in the Pokémon Video Game World Championships Junior division after two days of head-to-head competition.

Abram has earned the title of Pokémon World Champion, received a special Pikachu World Championships trophy, and all of the winners collectively earned more than $100,000 in scholarships.

Hundreds of other Pokémon players came to the Big Island from more than 30 countries, including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Representing their nations proudly in paradise, each player’s journey began nearly a year ago, battling in events over the course of the Play! Pokémon 2011-12 season. 

Abram was invited to the world championships after taking first at the US National Championships.

From the Pokémon World Championships blog:

What do you think were the keys to your victory?

There is always a lot of predicting what your opponent will do, but I usually just went with the obvious choice and that paid off.

Did you switch up your strategy at all after Nationals?

I thought a lot of people would be able to guess what Pokémon I was using, so I decided to changed it up a lot. I switched out Zapdos and Thundurus and kept Landorus and Hitmontop, and switched in Cloyster for Cresselia.

Players of the Pokémon video game might be able to battle an avatar of Abram in the future, as he could be selected to appear as a character in the upcoming release of Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2 videogames, to be released in October. 

The 2012 Pokémon TCG and Video Game World Champions are:

• 2012 Pokémon TCG Junior Division World Champion, Shuto Itagaki from Japan.
• 2012 Pokémon Video Game Junior Division World Champion, Abram Burrows from the United States of America, Santee.
• 2012 Pokémon TCG Senior Division World Champion, Chase Moloney from Canada.
• 2012 Pokémon Video Game Senior Division World Champion, Toler Webb from the United States of America.
• 2012 Pokémon TCG Masters Division World Champion, Igor Costa from Portugal.
• 2012 Pokémon Video Game Masters Division World Champion, Ray Rizzo from the United States of America.

“The Pokémon World Championships not only showcase some of the best Pokémon TCG and video game players from around the world, they also celebrate an international community that is unified by the fun, friendship, and mutual respect that the Pokémon spirit embodies,” said J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing for The Pokémon Company International. 

If you want to compete in future Play! Pokémon events, visit www.pokemon.com/play.