2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships (Page 3)

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Page 3

Picture 1 and Picture 2: Now we're at day 3. Here's what they're playing for, the title and trophy for the best Pokemon TCG player in the world. 32 players from each age group will compete to become champion! Picture 3: Well known Japanese Pokemon TCG players were available for battle at the event. It was a short line, but obviously the line doesn't move too much since a match takes so long. From left to right, first we have Tsuguyoshi Yamato, the 2004 Pokemon TCG World Champion of the 15 and over age group. Then we have Shigeru Kanda, a 15 and up player who made it to the top 32 players in the 2004 Pokemon TCG World Championships and also into the top 32 players in the 2005 Pokemon TCG World Championships. And finally, we have Koji Kanno, another 15 and up player who made it to the top 16 in the 2004 Pokemon TCG World Championships.

Picture 1: The layout of the tournament area was changed since it was down to 32 players. So a lot of the extra tables that weren't needed anymore were used for the side events. Picture 2 and Picture 3: Slight changes (removing extra tables and such) continued to be made as the field narrowed down.

Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: We're down to the top 16 players. Winners of this round will move on to the top 8.

Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: After a few eliminations, some Pokemon professors are able to sit down right next to the action. It wasn't long until we had our top 8 players from all three age groups.

Picture 1: The top 8 players from the 15 and over. Picture 2: The top 8 players from the 11 to 14. Picture 3: The top players from the 10 and under.

Picture 1: The top player in the staff. Just kidding! He was just walking by and posed for a quick picture. Picture 2 and Picture 3: Here's where it gets interesting. The prize difference is much greater right now. The top 8 players are already guaranteed a $1500 scholarship award and among other prizes. But the top 4 players will get a $3500 scholarship and just as important, an invitation to the 2007 Pokemon TCG World Championships in Hawaii. There's a Pokemon Professor watching the entire match for each of the battles at this point.

Picture 1 and Picture 2: It started with hundreds of tables, but now we're down to a a dozen tables (four tables each for each age group). Picture 3: On the left side of this picture is Eskil Vestre, an international judge from Norway. He's also the webmaster of www.pokemon.no , the official Pokemon website for Norway. He came up to me earlier in the event and introduced himself after seeing my name tag that was on my shirt (it was a business card with my name and the website's name, so some people came up to me and introduced themselves). Eskil contacted me through email the week before about possibly using some of the images I have taken at the Party of the Decade event in New York. I didn't know beforehand that he would be at the World Championships as well, so it was quite a surprise to see him there (didn't know what he looked like anyways until then). Anyways, he's planning to use the images on the official Norwegian Pokemon Magazine: http://www.pokemon.no/diverse/blad.htm . So I said I would be glad to provide the pictures. And if possible, I told him it would be nice if they could credit the pictures to me. So that would be nice if that will happen. Just need to find a way to buy a copy of the magazine when my pictures do show up.

Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: Battle pictures.

Picture 1, Picture 2: Battle pictures. Picture 3: Now we're down to four players in each age group. The two winners of the tables (one for each table) moves on to the championship match, where the champion will be determined. The remaining two players, will duke it out for third place. The only difference between third and fourth is that the third place finisher will get a trophy and will be on stage for the awards ceremony. Definitely a big enough difference for the competitors to put forth their full concentration.

Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: Still battling to reach the championship match.

Picture 1: I've been watching Yuta Komatsuda (in the purple shirt) who's from Japan, for his top 16 match and his top 8 match. He was cruising through the field until he got to the US player, Jason Klaczynski (in the blue shirt). Jason defeated Yuta in two straight games to win the match. Picture 2: That's a US player, Jeremy Maron (in the purple shirt), the 2005 Pokemon TCG World Champion in the 15 and over age group. The defending champion made an amazing run for a repeat championship title, but fell short when he lost to another US player, Jimmy Ballard. So the championship battle was set with Jason Klaczynski and Jimmy Ballard who will battle it out for the championship title. Which guarantees a US champion in the 15 and over age group. Picture 3: Arnoud Van Bemmelen (in the yellow shirt) from the Netherlands battles Fares Sekkoum from Great Britain.

Picture 1: Here we have the 11 to 14 championship battle between Miska Saari (in the purple shirt) from Finland battling against David Booij from the Netherlands. Picture 2: Here's Austin Reed (in the white shirt) from the US battling against Tad Wheeler from the US for 3rd place. Picture 3: Jason Klaczynski and Jimmy Ballard are actually good friends, so the battle environment was a little more light hearted (but of course, I'm sure both wanted nothing else but to win the championship).

Picture 1: The defending champ had to settle for either a 3rd and 4th place finish. He ended up winning the match against Yuta Komatsuda, which meant Jeremy Maron has finished in the top 3, two years in a row. Picture 2: As the battles approached the end, Tsunekazu Ishihara, President of The Pokemon Company, came out to observe the matches. Picture 3: As the judge signals, a champion has emerged! Jason Klaczynski defeated Jimmy Ballard in two straight games to win the championship.

Picture 1: With a hand shake, it's all done. Picture 1 and Picture 2: The match was closely watched by those at the rail.

Picture 1: The first one to make it to champion was Hiroki Yano, who defeated Spencer Duncan to win the championship for the 10 and under age group. It wasn't until later on that Jason Klaczynski defeated Jimmy Ballard to win the championship for the 15 and over age group. The last championship battle remaining was the 11 to 14, which took a little longer to decide, but in the end, Miska Saari of Finland defeated David Booij of the Netherlands to win the championship. Picture 2 and Picture 3: After all the battles were completed and all the champions declared, the tournament area was dismantled quickly to make room for the awards ceremony. The main event stage was cleaned off and chairs were set up for the audience.

Picture 1 - Picture 6: Here are your winners for the 2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships!

2006 Pokemon TCG World Champions

Bracket 15 & over

First: Jason Klaczynski (US)

Second: Jimmy Ballard (US)

Third: Jeremy Maron (US)

Bracket 11 to 14

First: Miska Saari (FI)

Second: David Booij (NL)

Third: Tad Wheeler (US)

Bracket 10 & under

First: Hiroki Yano (JP)

Second: Spencer Duncan (US)

Third: Arnoud Van Bemmelen (NL)

Picture 1, Picture 2, and Picture 3: The Champions: Jason Klaczynski of the US, David Booij of the Netherlands, and Hiroki Yano of Japan.

The Prizes:

1st Place

-A Pokemon TCG World Champion Trophy

-An invitation to the World Championships in 2007

-A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players under 18) to the 2007 World Championships

-A scholarship award worth $7500

-One box of each of the most current Pokemon TCG expansions for a year

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

2nd Place

-A Pokemon TCG World Championships Second Place Trophy

-An invitation to the World Championships in 2007

-A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players under 18) to the 2007 World Championships

-A scholarship award worth $5000

-One box of each of the most current Pokemon TCG expansions for a year

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

3rd Place

-A Pokemon TCG World Championships Third Place Trophy

-An invitation to the World Championships in 2007

-A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players under 18) to the 2007 World Championships

-A scholarship award worth $3500

-One box of the next upcoming Pokemon TCG expansion

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

4th Place

-An invitation to the World Championships in 2007

-A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players under 18) to the 2007 World Championships

-A scholarship award worth $3500

-One box of the next upcoming Pokemon TCG expansion

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

5th through 8th Place

-A scholarship award worth $1500

-18 booster packs from the next upcoming Pokemon TCG expansion

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

9th though 16th Place

-A scholarship award worth $1000

-18 booster packs from the next upcoming Pokemon TCG expansion

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items

17th 32nd Place

-9 booster packs from the most current Pokemon TCG expansion

-Pokemon World Championships commemorative items!

Conclusion

So that concludes the 2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships! Congratulations to all the winners! I really enjoyed covering this event, seeing so many fans of all ages really shows how strong Pokemon is even after 10 years. Some people came up to me and told me that they go to my website and praised my work on it, which made my day. I get a lot of praise and thanks in emails/AIM/YIM/etc for the working on this site, which I will never get tired of. But hearing it in person makes it that much better. So it was great to meet some fans of the site.

The 2006 Pokemon TCG World Championships is over, but the 2007 Pokemon TCG World Championships will be back for yet another year at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Kona, Hawaii, in August 2007!

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