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a fan celebrates a victory at a pokemon international event
Screengrab via The Pokémon Company

This 11-year-old girl just won an international Pokémon tournament

Girl power.

Young Australian Pokémon VGC talent Kiara Nguyen won the Oceania International Championships in the Juniors Divison over the weekend, placing with a solid 3-1 finish in Swiss to take the crown of 2023 Oceania International Champion in her home field.

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This win netted the 11-year-old $1,500 in prize money along with 500 CP to accelerate the young one’s climb to the 2023 Pokémon World Championships a tad bit easier.

Kiara may be young, but she is no stranger to the world stage and high-level competition when it comes to Pokémon VGC. Not only was the young girl the 2022 Pokémon VGC Juniors Worlds Finalist, but she also has an array of other top-tier accomplishments in her name, which include three Regional Championship wins, top four in EUIC ‘22, top eight in NAIC ‘19, and top eight in OCIC ‘20.

With this hefty list of accomplishments, it was no surprise to anybody that Kiara took home the International win, and she pulled off this feat with an infamous core that we have all grown quite familiar with: Dondozo and Tatsugiri.

Kiara filled the rest of her team with strong and dependable picks that could hold their own without the dynamic fishy duo; let’s take a closer look at her composition.

Kiara Nguyen’s Oceania International-winning team

  • Tatsugiri @ Choice Scarf  
    Ability: Commander  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Water  
    – Muddy Water  
    – Draco Meteor  
    – Icy Wind  
    – Sleep Talk  
  • Coco4dayz (Roaring Moon) @ Booster Energy  
    Ability: Protosynthesis  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Flying  
    – Acrobatics  
    – Throat Chop  
    – Dragon Dance  
    – Protect  
  • Gholdengo @ Choice Specs  
    Ability: Good as Gold  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Steel  
    – Make It Rain  
    – Shadow Ball  
    – Steel Beam  
    – Thunderbolt  
  • Dondozo @ Leftovers  
    Ability: Unaware  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Steel  
    – Order Up  
    – Wave Crash  
    – Substitute  
    – Protect  
  • Desire (Talonflame) @ Covert Cloak  
    Ability: Gale Wings  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Ghost  
    – Tailwind  
    – Brave Bird  
    – Will-O-Wisp  
    – Taunt  
  • Flutter Mane @ Focus Sash  
    Ability: Protosynthesis  
    Level: 50  
    Tera Type: Fairy  
    – Dazzling Gleam  
    – Shadow Ball  
    – Imprison  
    – Trick Room 

Kiara’s Dondozo is the pretty standard Substitute set, with Tera Steel also being a meta pick, letting it block Clear Smog from Amoonguss. Tatsugiri is another standard set with Choice Scarf, but Sleep Talk as a tech option to further counter Amoonguss shenanigans with sleep.

Related: These 3 Pokémon destroyed the meta at Scarlet and Violet’s Oceania International Championships

Gholdengo and Roaring Moon formed another core with amazing defensive synergy, while Flutter Mane ran an Imprison-Trick Room set to punish Trick Room-oriented teams. Kiara rounded off her team with Talonflame for immediate Speed control, overall running quite the bulky-offense team that took her all the way to her grand victory.


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Author
Image of Yash Nair
Yash Nair
Yash is a freelance writer based in the tropical state of Goa, India. With a focus on competitive Pokémon, he also writes general guides on your favorite video games. Yash has written for sites like Dot Esports and TouchTapPlay, and has a distinct love for indie video game titles.