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Kick Back: Janmoni Konwar lost her home, but not her fight for gold
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A home lost, a training ground devoured by floods. How did karateka Janmoni Konwar turn things around in a few weeks – and even win a gold medal?
Early on a Sunday morning in July, 17-year-old Janmoni Konwar was shaken awake by her frantic mother. The Brahmaputra River that marked the edge of their village, Bhogdoiporia, in Assam’s Jorhat district, had begun a course of devastation.
The family of five barely had time to flee their bamboo-and-mud house for higher ground before their home was swept away. What crushed her, Konwar says, was the obliteration of her training ground, and of the fishery her family had just started to help fund her trip to Delhi.
That trip was in a few weeks. Konwar was reigning national karate champion in her category, set to defend her title at the 2026 All India Independence Cup Karate Championship.
Incredibly, that’s exactly what she did.
In August, she won gold at that meet.
Konwar has lived in a relief camp since the floods. It was from the relief camp that she headed to Delhi, with funding and assistance from Alakh Pandey, a teacher and entrepreneur better known as PhysicsWallah on YouTube.
When he visited the relief camp and met her, she was still clutching the few possessions she had fled with: Her medals. “They are my most precious belongings,” she says.
Knowing no help was coming, and that she would lose her chance at a well-deserved victory, he offered to get her to Delhi.
All Konwar could think, she says, was: This is all that matters now.
“I blocked all other thoughts. I told myself: You have a goal, and you can only think about that goal. Everything else comes second.”
It was a mix of anger, defiance, sorrow, hope and ambition that fuelled her run in the Capital, competing with children who all had homes; who hadn’t just seen their village devastated. More than anything, she says, she wanted to help her family. And this was the only way she could think of to do that.
Going for gold
Growing up in a family of farmers, Konwar began to show a flair for kung-fu at five.
Sport runs in the family. Her father played football at state level; her brother trained in karate. But her talent seemed different. She was fierce, fearless, powerful.
After a couple of broken bones, she decided to move to karate, and began to win, claiming gold at the 2025 All India Independence Cup championships in Delhi.
The family sold buffaloes to fund that trip. They began fish-farming earlier this year, hoping to raise more funds.
“My mother cooks and cares for us all, my elder sister prefers dance, and everyone is always putting their needs on hold to deal with the expenses for my competitions,” she says. Her gold was a way of saying thank you, she adds, and “I hope this helps”.
The good fight
In parts of the patchy Zoom call from the relief shelter, Konwar’s natural buoyancy returns. She talks about what she loves about her form of the sport: Ashihara Karate.
“My signature move is a particular kind of high kick,” she says, grinning as she demonstrates. “It must be done swiftly, and we have to get the technique and timing just right.”
She talks about her idol, 22-year-old Alisha Choudhary from Haryana, who became the first Indian woman to win gold at the Asian Karate Championships this year. If not karate, Konwar would have picked kabaddi, she says, because it feels fun and spontaneous.
Her coach Susanta Das says Konwar excels at using an opponent’s power and momentum against them by attacking their blind spot. Her footwork is outstanding as well, he says.
Back at the relief camp, Konwar doomscrolls, listens to Neha Kakkar songs, squabbles with her siblings. Her Class 12 exams are coming and she’s anxious about them. Her online following is growing, she adds with a smile.
“I want to represent India at an Olympics, and buy a proper house for my family,” she says.
It’s unclear what’s waiting for her next.
From HT Brunch, September 5, 2026
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