KODIE?KING booked a place in his first Junior Badminton National Championship final after defeating Nicholas Sobers 21-16, 22-20 in the Under-15 boys semi-final at the Wildey Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
He will now face his younger sibling Kennie King in tomorrow’s final.
Despite the straight sets victory, Sobers did not make it easy, as Kodie King was forced to work for every point.
King rushed to an 8-1 lead and still led into the first interval 11-3. However, the diminutive Sobers increased his intensity with some excellent cross-court winners and drop shots to pull within three points in the latter stages.
King was able to settle just enough to quell any hopes of a comeback in the first game.
In the second, Sobers failed to capitalise on the momentum he gained in the previous game. The early exchanges followed the same script as Sobers allowed King to rush to an 8-1 lead.
Fortunately, he got his act together much sooner and came within three points at the interval. After the break, Sobers continued to attack and forced King to all areas of the court, which allowed him to eventually take the lead at 12-11.
From there, the scores were locked on multiple occasions, with neither player leaving anything to chance as they went after every shuttle.
Sobers then squandered two game points to allow King to tie the encounter.
With the momentum having clearly shifted, King scored two more straight points to seal the win.
OTHER RESULTS
Under-19 Boys Semi-Finals
Sabeel Foster defeated Jaleel Arthur 21-9, 21-5
D’Andre Thorpe defeated Cory Fanus 21-17, 21-17
Under-17 Boys Semi-Finals
Shae Martin defeated Nicholas Sobers 21-10, 21-15
Jehu Gaskin defeated Keshem Moore 21-7, 21-13
Under-15 Boys Doubles Semi-Finals
Nicholas Howard/Kennie King defeated Aren Cupple/Jonathan Gardiner 21-16, 21-16
Kodie King/Nicholas Sobers defeated John Cupples/Khamal Scantlebury 21-13, 9-21, 21-18.
