Liam Pitchford made his debut for Team JOOLA less than a week ago, playing some spirited matches against the world’s top players at WTT Star Contender Doha. While the 4-time Team GB Olympian has been a cornerstone in the sport of table tennis for Great Britain for a little over a decade, he also has a fun hobby on the side – collecting Pokemon cards.

It’s no surprise that Pitchford is part of a wave of millennials bathing in nostalgia as they re-discover their love for collecting Pokemon cards just over 25 years after they were released. He originally started collecting for a few years in his youth, like many of us, and then returned as Pokemon hit the popularity again in 2020-22, with its rise around the world continuing.

Pop culture icons like EDM DJ Steve Aoki and Chinese pop singer Jay Chou are also notable collectors.

Pitch definitely favours the original 151 pokemon collections, as they are more relevant to his childhood, however his favourite pokemon is Lugia, the legendary bird, from the gold/silver era and he says the best card in his collection right now is a tough question to answer but is probably his Neo Genesis Lugia card – the most recent PSA 10 of which sold at auction for just under $50,000usd.

We had the chance to sit down with Liam and set up a ‘Pack War’ where we went head to head and winner takes all. We hope you enjoy this fun video!