NKBA’s Bora impresses at Nicosia

Pune: Krishna Bora of Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy (NKBA) ended the year on a high as he won his maiden title at the Cyprus Youth International 2018 in Nicosia recently.

Top seeded Bora defeated No 2 seed Cypriot Nikolas Kokosis 21-12, 21-16 in the final to seal the title in his name.  Bora, who has been training at NKBA for the last five years, is a sixth standard student of The Bishop’s School, Camp. 
 
Bora had easy early rounds, winning the quarterfinal and second round matches in straight games, but faced a tough contest in the semifinal against fourth seeded Christos Georgiou, who took the first game put Bora in a spot of bother.

The NKBA trainee, however, gathered himself in time to equalise and then win the semifinal in the deciding third game. Bora emerged 20-22, 21-14,21-17 winner in 39 minutes.

In the quarterfinal too Bora was up against a Cypriot, the No 7 seed Panayiotis Adamou, whom he defeated 21-8, 21-18 to advance. 

Earlier in the second round, Bora put on a good show against ninth seeded Israeli player Shon Leitman, winning 21-6,21-14.  

Road to title:
Final: 1-Krishna Bora bt 2-Nikolas Kokasis (CYP) 21-12,21-16
Semifinal: bt 4-Christos Georgiou (CYP) 20-22,21-14,21-17.
Quarterfinal: bt 7-Panayiotis Adamou (CYP) 21-8,21-18
Round 2: bt 9-Shon Leitman (ISR) 21-6,21-14.
Round 1: bye