Chapter 740 - 739: The Sinnoh Tournament Begins
The opening ceremony of the Sinnoh Tournament was truly grand.
A massive venue, with fully occupied seats all around, was divided into five sections, each designated for people from a specific region.
Since this was the first time the five major regions were organizing a joint tournament, it attracted an incredible number of spectators. In addition to the large local crowd from Sinnoh, people from all regions traveled by plane to witness the event.
And those who couldn’t get tickets could only stay home and watch the live broadcast.
At the center of the venue was a vast open space. Given its scale, it seemed capable of hosting more than ten battlefields at the same time. Each battlefield could automatically rise or descend, and the type of terrain was randomly selected by the tournament organizers.
Due to the large number of participants, consisting of trainers from five regions who had obtained eight badges, the tournament rules were quite simple: a knockout format where the winner advanced and the loser was eliminated.
Originally, the League’s tournament division had proposed that, before reaching the Top 128, each battle would be fought with a single Pokémon, and the winner would advance.
However, this proposal was rejected by a high-ranking official of the Pokémon League, arguing that it was not stable enough.
Ultimately, it was announced that before reaching the Top 128, each trainer would use two Pokémon in one-on-one battles; the winner would advance, and the loser would be eliminated.
From the Top 128 onwards, the limit would be three Pokémon per trainer in one-on-one battles, and the winner would advance.
From the Top 32, the limit would increase to four Pokémon in one-on-one battles.
Upon entering the Top 16, the tournament would follow League standards: six-on-six battles.