Guwahati, Aug. 13 -- For 17-year-old Assam karate athlete Janmoni Konwar, the road to winning a gold medal at the recently-held 20th All India Independence Cup Karate Championship in New Delhi was anything but easy. With her home at Bhogdoiporia Gaon near Holmora in Jorhat district submerged in floodwaters, her training ground underwater, and her family forced to live in a makeshift shelter on an embankment, the dream of competing appeared to be slipping away just weeks before the event.
Her family had spent nearly three years raising fish, hoping to use the proceeds to fund her trip to the national competition. But the floods that hit the area on July 19 destroyed their home, damaged their fishery, and swept away much of their poultry and...