The internet signal kept disappearing.
The day The Better India spoke to Janmoni Konwar, she was preparing to leave for the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Seventeen years old, the young karateka climbed towards a spot where her phone could catch a network. On the other end, her coach, Susanta Das, helped coordinate the call.
Then Janmoni appeared on the screen.
“Tomorrow I am going to SAI, so this is a special moment for me,” she said, breaking into a smile.
It was a happy moment for a teenager about to take another step in her sporting career.
But Janmoni’s journey to that moment has been anything but ordinary.
Just days earlier, she had stood at Delhi’s Talkatora Indoor Stadium and won a gold medal at the National Karate Championship, held from 7 to 9 August. Competing in the Ashihara category, Janmoni had travelled from a flood-hit village in Assam to the national stage and returned with the medal she had been working towards for years.
When she came home, the celebration took place against a very different backdrop.
Her family was still living under a tarpaulin.
Their house in Bhogdoiporia Gaon in Assam’s Jorhat district had been washed away in floods the previous month. The family’s fishery had been damaged. Ducks and poultry had been swept away. The buffaloes had to be moved to safer ground.
For Janmoni, the gold medal did not mark the end of a struggle.
It became part of a family’s attempt to rebuild after losing its home, and a young athlete’s determination to continue chasing a dream that had begun when she was five years old.
When the water came
On 19 July, floodwaters entered Bhogdoiporia Gaon.
An embankment breached around 150 metres from Janmoni’s house, allowing water to rush into the village. The family had to leave their home and move to the embankment.
Their losses extended beyond the house.
For nearly three years, the family had been raising fish in a fishery. The plan had been to sell the fish and use the money to help fund Janmoni’s trip to Delhi for the National Karate Championship.
The flood disrupted that plan too.
“The fishery was connected to her competition,” the family explained. It was meant to help pay for her journey.
This was not the first time Janmoni’s family had rearranged their lives to keep her in the sport.
Earlier, they had sold two buffaloes to meet the expenses of her karate competitions.
VIDEO | Delhi: With her home submerged in floodwater and her family forced to take shelter in a relief camp, 17-year-old Janmoni Konwar had every reason to stay back in Assam.
Instead, the young karate player from Holmora village in Jorhat district insisted on making the… pic.twitter.com/qDyV0I21M3
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 8, 2026
For families in remote parts of the country, sporting ambition often comes with costs that have little to do with the training itself. There are journeys to competitions, accommodation, entry fees and equipment.
Then there is food. And for an athlete, food is training too.
Susanta Das, Janmoni’s coach, points to what he sees as one of the biggest challenges for young athletes in the area.
“In these remote places, some families can barely afford three meals a day. So proper nutrition and a specialised diet become difficult,” he tells The Better India.
Janmoni does not describe a complicated diet plan. Her food, she says, is home-cooked meals and no cold drinks. But even maintaining that routine becomes difficult when a family has been displaced by a flood.
A dream that began at five
Janmoni was five when she first began learning karate.
There were no air-conditioned training rooms. There were limited facilities. Sometimes, circumstances forced her to train in spaces far removed from what most people would imagine for a national-level athlete.
Her coach remembers one quality above all others: consistency.
“She is a diligent child,” says Susanta Das. “I always think of how a lotus blooms in the marsh. It is the same with her.”
There were times when disasters and disruptions changed where and how she could practise. Sometimes, he says, she trained on the streets.
“If I told her to practise for two or three hours, she would do it without stopping. That is her quality,” he says.
The results began to show. Janmoni won a bronze medal in 2023. In 2025, she won gold.
This year, she was preparing for another national championship when the floods arrived.
The journey to Delhi
The family had been displaced. The house was gone. Their source of planned income for the championship had been affected. Rail services were also disrupted.
For Janmoni and her team, reaching Delhi became a huge challenge to solve.
Help arrived after Alakh Pandey, founder of Physics Wallah, learned about Janmoni’s situation during a visit to flood-affected areas of Assam. He supported the team’s travel to Delhi and back, arranged accommodation and provided Rs 3 lakh to Janmoni’s family.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita also provided financial assistance of Rs 10,000.
With the journey finally possible, Janmoni travelled to Delhi.
From a village where floodwater had recently forced her family from their home, she entered the Talkatora Indoor Stadium to compete in the Ashihara category of the National Karate Championship.
Janmoni does not describe a complicated diet plan. Her food, she says, is home-cooked meals and no cold drinks.
Then came the result she had been waiting for. Gold.
The medal represented years of practice, a family’s sacrifices and a journey that, until shortly before the competition, had seemed uncertain.
Back to the embankment
Janmoni returned to Assam with a national gold medal. Her family, however, was still living under a tarpaulin after their home was washed away.
But Janmoni does not speak as though the gold medal is the conclusion of her story.
The next journey is already in front of her. Janmoni, on the screen, kept smiling.
“Tu khel India ke liye-You play for India,” her father tells her.
The encouragement means a great deal to Janmoni.
Her father had once been a footballer himself. Her parents and brother have continued to support her journey, even when doing so has meant making difficult financial decisions.
The sale of two buffaloes was one such decision. The fishery was another hope.
And now, as the family works to rebuild after the flood, Janmoni is moving into the next stage of her sporting life.
‘They want to be like me’
For all the attention that comes with winning a national gold medal, Janmoni is particularly excited when she speaks about something else.
She teaches younger children too.
“You know, I also teach little kids,” she says, laughing. Most of her students are girls, though boys train with her as well.
“They follow me so much,” she says. “They also love martial arts and are always keen to copy me.”
It is perhaps here that Janmoni’s story moves beyond one medal.
In a village with limited training facilities, a teenager is now introducing younger children to the same sport. The girls watching her do not just see someone who trains in martial arts.
They see someone from their own surroundings who travelled to Delhi and returned with a national gold medal.
Now, SAI awaits
For a teenager who has trained in difficult circumstances, the opportunity marks a new chapter. It could give her access to structured coaching and help her take the next steps towards competing at higher levels.
There is more training to do. More competitions to enter. And younger students back home who are watching.
