2023 World Championships: Meet Team Asia!

The 2023 World Championships, which will be held on 11–13 August 2023, are hosted in Japan for the first time! In these articles, we will take a look at the best players that are qualified to compete in the biggest event of the year.

Here we have the rest of Asia, excluding Japan! Let’s meet the 6 players with a Day 2 invite, and take a look at the other 29 Day 1 invitees this region amalgam brings.

Table of Contents


Asia at Worlds

Even though we are grouping all of Asia (excluding Japan) together, the reality is that each region here is playing under a different circuit, and even governed by different branches of The Pokémon Company. South Korea has always been a separate entity under Pokémon Korea, while Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand had historically been part of TPCi’s Oceania region until the TPC takeover in 2020. These latter regions, though under the TPC umbrella, are managed by their own local organizations, sometimes grouped by language.

Asia had lived its best moment when Korean Sejun Park and his iconic Pachirisu made the whole world vibrate and rose to the top as the 2014 World Champion.

Among the best results by Asian players we can find Sejun‘s other top 8 finishes (2012 and 2013), and the top 16 finishes achieved by Hong Kong native Edward Cheung Ka Hin (2016), Koreans Wonseok Jang and Junghoon Shin (2017) and Singaporean Melvin Keh (2018 and 2019).

2022 was not the best year for Asia at the World Championships, as no one from this region reached the top cut. Thai Chaiyawat Traiwichcha and Taiwanese Chyr Wei got closest, but they lost their win-and-in matches. It has been 9 years already since Asia last found a spot in top 8 of Worlds. They are hungry for success and eager to show their quality to the world! Will they improve their poor results from last year and equate Sejun’s success?

Requirements for a Worlds invite

As stated above, each region within Asia has their own circuit, so the road to Yokohama has been quite different for each player depending on where they live.

In South Korea, a top 16 at their National-like event, the online Pokémon Trainers Cup, would secure a Day 1 invite, with the top 4 advancing to the Final Round and upgrading their invites for Day 2. However, their 2023 season has been stained by continuously controversial decisions that were met with unprecedented outrage from players. Firstly, the Trainers Cup, which had always been open to everyone, needed now qualifying through the Global Challenges. Then, the original Trainers Cup tournament was filled with technical issues and had to be repeated, with the results (and Day 1 invites) being voided. And finally, players’ petitions to improve the circuit were backlashed by Pokémon Korea with disqualifications to some of the best Korean players, mortally wounding the region’s competitiveness. The Final Round, which would have been the only live event in the region, was ultimately cancelled in the Masters division. No players from Korea will start on Day 2 of Worlds.

Taiwan had three Regionals over the year, the finalists of which being invited directly to Day 2 of the Taiwan National. Other players needed to qualify through the in-game ladder Qualifier and survive a brutal single-elimination bracket in Day 1 to reach Day 2. Only the top 3 of the 16 players of Day 2 would earn an invite, since, weirdly, the fourth Taiwanese invite was given to the Kaohsiung Regional Champion. Eventually, the 4th placed player in the National was awarded a Worlds invite too. The National Champion was given the direct pass to Worlds Day 2. Notably, this is the only Asian region that has played open-teamsheet (OTS), best-of-3 matches.

The Hong Kong National was also played with OTS, but their single-elimination bracket was played as best-of-1 matches except the finals. Top 4 earned a Day 1 invite and the National Champion was given a direct pass to Worlds Day 2.

The Thailand National initially featured closed teamsheets (CTS) in its single-elimination bracket, but was played with OTS from top 16 onwards. All matches except the finals were played as best-of-1. Top 4 earned a Day 1 invite and the National Champion was given a direct pass to Worlds Day 2.

Finally, the Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore Nationals were played fully online with single-elimination brackets, and with their own share of technical issues, which disproportionately lengthened the events. They started with CTS and only featured OTS from top 8 onwards. All matches except the finals were played as best-of-1. All the top 4 players earned a Day 1 invite and the National Champions were given a direct pass to Worlds Day 2. These regions did not have any live event in their circuits.

With this chaotic mixture of formats, will Asian players be motivated enough to play very close to home and be able to adapt to the usual TPCi rules?


Day 2 players

1. TWN Yang Da-wei

Da-wei has achieved his second Worlds invite in a row, as he already qualified in 2022. However, he didn’t attend last time. He now has a direct pass to Day 2!

The Taiwanese player started the season strong very early. We were still playing Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield when he finished second at Taipei Regional, the only official Series 13 event in the world, and securing a spot in Day 2 of Taiwan National. He went on to win the Kaohsiung Regional, which granted him a Worlds Day 1 invite and yet another spot in Day 2 of Taiwan National, effectively earning a bye in the National top 16 round. Da-wei continued dominating the Taiwanese circuit, as he ended up winning the Taiwan National and upgrading his Worlds invite for Day 2!

Da-wei was a part of Team Taiwan in the World Cup of Pokémon VGC in 2022, where the team finished in top 16.

Panyawut is qualifying to the World Championships for the third time! He already earned Day 1 invites in 2016 (as part of the Asia-Pacific TPCi region) and 2022. He now has a direct pass to Day 2!

Panyawut earned a spot in the National Championship by winning the in-game ladder Qualifier. He continued his dominance in the region and got the victory at the live Thailand National, earning a Day 2 invite to the World Championships!

Panyawut has been a part of Team Thailand in the World Cup of Pokémon VGC since 2021. The team, often seen as underdogs, reached top 8 in 2021 and won it all in 2022, with the final match being decided by Panyawut!

Wan has earned his second invite to the World Championships! He had already earned a Day 1 invite in 2016 (as part of the Asia-Pacific TPCi region), but did not attend the event. Now, he will skip it and play directly from Day 2!

Having placed 6th in the in-game ladder Qualifier, Wan earned his spot at the online National Championship. Ultimately, Wan was the one that longer survived the single-elimination bracket and won the Malaysia National with a curious offensive male Indeedee, earning a Day 2 invite to the World Championships.

Since the Malaysian circuit ran fully online, there is no footage of Wan this season. He can take advantage of that at Worlds!

This is the first time that Francis has qualified to the World Championships!

Francis placed 16th in the in-game ladder Qualifier, earning a spot at the online National Championship. There, he navigated through the single-elimination bracket and ended up winning the Philippines National with a team resembling a mixture of the “old” and “new balance” cores of Regulation Set C, earning a Day 2 invite to the World Championships.

Francis has been a part of Team Philippines in the World Cup of Pokémon VGC since 2021.

Melvin has qualified to Worlds for the sixth straight time! Having played in Day 1 in 2016, he improved that in 2017 onwards participating in Day 2, but his best results came in 2018 and 2019 when he reached top 16.

Starting the season as the defending Singapore National Champion, he placed 7th in the in-game ladder Qualifier to earn a spot at this year’s National. The tumultuous single-elimination bracket resulted in a mirror finals match between Melvin and Daanvir Singh Narula, which also constituted a rematch from the 2022 National finals. In the end, Melvin was again victorious, and thus won the Singapore National for the second time and earned a new direct pass to Worlds Day 2.

Melvin has been a part of the Singaporean roster in the World Cup since the 2021 edition, when Singapore made it to top 8.

Wayne has earned his first Worlds invite!

The Hongkonger got a 4th place in the in-game ladder Qualifier, earning a spot at the live National Championship. Wayne could enjoy being the first winner of an event showcasing the spectator mode of Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet, as he showed off his Orthworm and won the Hong Kong National with it, the event that used the spectator mode for the first time.


Day 1 players

Asia has 29 representatives in Day 1 of Worlds, some of which are big names in the scene. They include 2014 World Champion Sejun Park (although he has also qualified for TCG and may opt to play that instead), 2022 World Cup winner Jong Dae-Jung, 2-time Singapore National finalist Daanvir Singh Narula and Taipei Regional Champion & Taiwan National finalist Chuang Yu-peng.

The following list comprises all other players that meet the requirements for a Day 1 invite.


Closing words

Congratulations to all Asian players having qualified for the World Championships! With their first chance to play in a timezone that they do not need to adapt, this is one of their best chances to succeed. We wish you all the best of luck.

If you’re not attending, you can follow their battles from home. Check all info about the Pokémon World Championships here!

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