Portsmouth nine-year-old prodigy qualifies for the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championship in Hawaii

Declan Peers, 9, of North End, is raising money to help towards a once in a lifetime experience of competing in the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships in August 2024. The young prodigy earned his place in the championship after a number victories in events across Europe including the Lille Pokémon TGC Cup.

Having only started playing the card game competitively 12 months ago after joining a local league. The Portsmouth youngster ended up qualifying for the world championship within three months of the season which runs from July to July. The sudden rise has taken his mother, Fiona Peers, by surprise. She said: "We are incredibly proud, its such an amazing achievement at such a young age. It's something that is unexpected because it's not something that you realise could be a competitive field and something that can take you around the world. To be nine years old and be able to travel around the world doing something that you love is an amazing achievement and we are immensely proud of him."

For the uninitiated, Pokémon started out as a Japanese video game in 1996 before becoming a worldwide cultural phenomenon which spawned a card game and numerous TV series and movies. Declan has been a fan of it for a number of years but the idea to play the card game competitively was sparked on a visit to London. Fiona said: "He has been in to Pokémon since he could talk but he actually only started to play the card game just over 12 months ago. We went to to the World Championships when they were held in London two years ago just to go and watch and I think it ignited something in him then. When he picked up the card game and realised that there was a competitive side to it and it was something that he could do as a sport, he grabbed hold of it and was pretty good at it."

In the UK Declan competes against players of all ages but in the big tournaments he plays in the junior (under 12) category which is where he will compete in Hawaii. The next step is to try to find a way to get to there. Only the top players in Europe our given travel assistance with the rest of the players having to pay their own way to get there. Fiona has said they will do everything they can to get Declan to Hawaii: "There is a possibility of travel awards if he finishes in the top four in Europe but other than that it is going to be the bank of mum and dad and him selling his Pokémon cards. We have set up a GoFundMe page to help us along a bit. We have told him that he has to sell some of the cards to help contribute towards it but we will help him as much as we can."

While the world championships are on the horizon, there are still months to go in the season including exciting trips to Utrecht and Stockholm. Whatever happens, it is good to see that Portsmouth has its very own budding Pokémon master. Details on Declan's GoFundMe page can be found here.