I mean, that's every rival ...
Gary, (presumably Silver), Wally, Barry, Cheren, Selena and Hau showed up, lost and moved on although they theoretically beat the Gyms / Trials and E4.
May, Bianca, Shauna, Tierno and Trevor didn't even do the Gym challenge as far as we can tell.
Hop lost to elite level trainers (PC and Bede), and after that he started to fall under a lot of pressure since he felt he wasn't performing enough to the shadow of his brother.
The fact that he made it to Winner's Championship shows a lot about his persistence and ability.