NAGPUR: Akansha Matte from Andhra Pradesh battled jaundice a couple of months ago. On her road to recovery, she played five consecutive tournaments and faced the top-seed Malvika Bansod on Wednesday in her sixth tournament.
The 18-year-old shuttler may have lost the battle to Malvika (21-5, 21-4) in the first round of India Maharashtra International Challenge but she garnered valuable learnings from the world no. 43 that she feels would help her as her career progresses.