JANKI GOUD AFTER WINNING A BRONZE MEDAL IN THE 2017 BLIND NATIONAL

JUDO CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT. (SIGHTSAVERS)

UNDERDOG STORY

Young woman who people thought ‘couldn’t

do anything’ goes on to exceed even the
greatest expectations
BY WITW STAFF ON AUGUST 23, 2018
For Janki Goud, the world was a big dark place not so long ago. As a young blind
woman living in a small village in Madhya Pradesh, India, Goud says she thought she
might never make it out of her hometown. But that all changed when she first started
taking judo lessons as a means of providing herself with some protection against the
risk of sexual assault and rape. Some 4,882 cases of rape were reported in the region
in 2016, and according to Jayashree Kumar, the program manager of the international
non-governmental organization Sightsavers, blind and disabled women are particularly
vulnerable. But for Goud, who rarely even spoke when she first began the program,
according to Sightsavers organizers, learning judo proved to be more than just a means
of self-protection.

“Before learning judo, I didn’t use to go anywhere,” Goud said. “[People] thought I
couldn’t do anything.”

Now, she is an outspoken advocate for the group and a 2017 national champion in blind
judo. She also traveled to her first international tournament last year, winning bronze at
the International Blind Sports Federation competition in Uzbekistan.

“After finishing school, my plan is to become a judo instructor and teach children,” she
said in a video for Sightsavers. “I want to teach other brothers and sisters like me
because I want to build confidence in them, too. I want to tell other blind girls like me,
that if she wanted to learn judo she can come to me. Teaching is important to me, if she
asks I’ll definitely teach her because then she can also compete and have success for
herself and her family, like me. She can make her name.”

Watch Janki and other Sightsavers judokas below. As of August 2018, she has been reported to
be 23 years old.

Read the full story at CNN and Sightsavers.