Pokémon star catches ’em all at World Championships
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In a San Francisco arena packed with 18,000 people, 16-year-old Vikram put his headphones on and prepared for the ultimate Pokémon battle. After seven years learning the ins and outs of the game, the North Yorkshire teenager walked away as the Pokémon World Champion.
“It was quite intimidating but after I sat down, I realised this is just another tournament,” says Vikram, from Malton.
“It felt unreal to be playing Pokémon in such a big arena on such a big stage, especially with 200,000 people watching on the live streams.”
The massive event invites trainers from all over the world to battle for glory in the video game, trading card, Pokémon Go and Pokémon Unite divisions of the game, which are split into three age groups – juniors, seniors and masters.
Vikram claimed victory in the senior video game division, winning himself a cash prize and exclusive merchandise, as well as an automatic spot in next year’s Pokémon World Championships in Singapore.
He is the first British champion since 2015.
The teenager first became interested in the franchise in 2019 while playing on his Nintendo Switch.
“The video game, it’s very similar to chess in how many tactics there are,” Vikram explains.
“And all the tactics, they keep evolving every couple of months when they change what Pokémon are available.”
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He took part in his first competition in Hull in 2023, after seeing it advertised online.
“It took some convincing of my parents, but they took me to my first tournament,” Vikram says.
Like many parents, Vikram’s mum Kavitha had concerns about her son spending his time playing video games.
“Our initial thought was it was too much screen time because he was always on a screen,” she says.
“Vikram is very social on the video games because he has lots of friends who he chats to online so we were constantly asking, are you actually doing something else apart from just video games?”
After Vikram’s dad “drew the short straw” to make the journey across to Hull, Vikram found a love for tournaments.
“At first when I walked in, I was like, this is really big and I don’t really know anyone here, so I was really nervous,” the teenager explains.
“Then after I got talking to my first opponent, he was really friendly. I’m still friends with him today actually.”
Through different competitions in the UK and Europe, Vikram and his family have socialised with people from all over the world.
“I have loads of friends in America, Australia and quite a few in India as well, just because of Pokémon, so I’m really grateful for the community,” he says.
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Kavitha says she was shocked at the scale of the Pokémon tournaments in the UK but was especially overwhelmed when taking Vikram to his first event in France.
“Lille was even bigger and he actually won that year so we were very proud, very happy and didn’t realise how big it was,” she says.
He continued competing in in-person tournaments until his GCSE exams approached.
“We kind of said, right, no more. We can’t take you anywhere until your GCSEs are finished because you need to try and concentrate on them,” his mum says.
“In spite of that, he managed to convince us that he was doing well enough that he could do online tournaments, which meant we didn’t have to take him anywhere.”
Enough points allowed him to quality for the Pokémon World Champions in 2025, where he placed third, and again in 2026.
BBC/Emily Johnson
Sat in the audience cheering him on, Vikram’s mum says the experience was “crazy to say the least”.
“It felt like all of them were rooting for him when it was his match, we were shouting, people around us were cheering on for him,” Kavitha says.
When the moment of victory came, the teenager says he looked at his parents and thought, “I actually did it”.
“It was just complete disbelief because I felt like I was lucky just to even be on that stage,” he says.
“Even though it was really late in the UK, loads of my friends stayed up to watch and on my phone I had 282 notifications.
“I had my phone constantly buzzing in my pocket.”
After watching her brother in the finals, 19-year-old Anjali says she is inspired to try her hand at playing Pokémon as well.
“I would never play with him but since him winning, I’ve told him I will learn,” she laughs.
“I will be going to Singapore with him and maybe even playing, but probably not!”
Next year, Vikram will be playing in the masters division, with trainers over the age of 16, which he describes as “the biggest crown in the game”.
“It’s been a really exciting year and I’m really excited for what’s to come,” he beams.
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