The two competitors in the afternoon's first match were evenly matched. In the end, a Pokémon Trainer named Kado used Blaziken to defeat his opponent's Solrock and advance.
Soon, the final match began. The first half took place on the Grass Field, and Han Ye's opponent was a Pokémon Trainer named Sakumo. Against Han Ye's Umbreon, he sent out Dustox, which opened with a wide-ranging Silver Wind, dispersing all the copies Umbreon had created. When Umbreon used Quick Attack, Dustox countered with Poison Sting, driving Umbreon back. Dustox tried to keep attacking to increase the chances of poisoning Umbreon, only to be struck by Umbreon's Hyper Beam and knocked out.
Sakumo's second Pokémon was Skarmory. As soon as Skarmory appeared, Skarmory used Drill Peck on Umbreon, which was still immobilized. Once Umbreon recovered, however, Han Ye immediately recalled Umbreon and sent out Houndoom. Sakumo also chose to switch Pokémon at once, but Skarmory could not avoid being hit by Houndoom's Pursuit.
Sakumo's third Pokémon was Hariyama. Perhaps because Hariyama were both plentiful and powerful, Liu Qing had noticed that quite a few competitors used them in the tournament, including Paul, Tetsuya, who had advanced in today's first match, and others who had already been eliminated.
Against Hariyama, Han Ye chose Flamethrower to test the waters, but Hariyama blocked the attack with both palms. Seeing this, Han Ye had Houndoom use Iron Tail to fight at close range, only for Hariyama to catch the attack between both hands as though catching a blade barehanded. Hariyama followed up with Close Combat, beating Houndoom into unconsciousness.
Han Ye clearly had not expected close-range combat to be his downfall. After a moment of surprise, he sent Umbreon out again and defeated Hariyama with a strategy combining Double Team, Toxic, and Quick Attack.
After recalling