Why are they being coy about Ilima's gender?

http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/en-us/captains/

When it first went live, it said: "A graduate of the Trainers’ school and an expert in Normal-type Pokémon, Captain Ilima is considered a hero by the students of his former school."

But then they swiftly changed it to: "An expert in Normal-type Pokémon, Captain Ilima graduated from the Trainers’ School and is a hero to the students of that school."

The original text is still live here, and on numerous other sites that copy-pasted the original press release:
http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/new-pokemon-and-characters-announced-for-pokemon-sun-and-pokemon-moon
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/283382/NEW_POKEacuteMON_AND_CHARACTERS_ANNOUNCED_FORPOKEacuteMON_SUN_AND_POKEacuteMON_MOON.php

All the other language media explicitly refers to him as male; do you think they're actually considering changing his gender for the American release? What else could explain them not only avoiding using male pronouns, but actually going back and changing existing references to his gender?