Virtual taekwondo set for Asian Games debut

Virtual taekwondo, which blends traditional taekwondo with virtual reality technology, is expected to become an official medal event at the 2026 Asian Games.

Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported Thursday, citing officials from the organizing committee, that virtual taekwondo will make its debut at the Games, scheduled for Sept. 19 through Oct. 4 in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya.

The emerging discipline allows athletes to compete in a digital arena without physical contact. Competitors wear motion-tracking sensors on their arms and legs, enabling their movements to be replicated in virtual space. Similar to a combat video game, matches are decided by reducing an opponent’s power gauge within a fixed time limit, with the athlete holding the larger remaining gauge declared the winner.

The event’s official inclusion is expected to be finalized after approval from the organizing committee’s board and the Olympic Council of Asia next month.

According to Yomiuri, virtual taekwondo has steadily built a fan base, with world championship events already being staged. The report said the Olympic Council of Asia also requested the sport’s inclusion and that organizers are in final talks to hold the event alongside traditional taekwondo sparring and poomsae competitions at Toyohashi City General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture.

World Taekwondo has actively pushed for virtual taekwondo to be recognized as an official Asian Games event. Under the proposed format, athletes ages 17 to 35 would compete in a mixed-gender individual tournament. Male and female competitors would face each other without gender divisions in a single-elimination bracket beginning in the round of 16.

Even with the addition of virtual taekwondo, however, the total number of taekwondo gold medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Games will fall from 13 at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago to 11.

At the Hangzhou Games, 11 gold medals were awarded in sparring competitions, including 10 individual events across five men’s and five women’s weight classes, along with one mixed team event. Two additional gold medals were awarded in poomsae.

This year, the sparring program will be reduced to eight individual events, matching the Olympic format of four men’s and four women’s weight classes, while the mixed team event will be removed. The poomsae competition will continue to award two gold medals, one each in the men’s and women’s individual divisions.

Organizers are also expected to add padel, a racket sport that combines elements of tennis and squash, and teqball, which blends soccer and table tennis, as official medal events at this year’s Games.


In-Chan Hwang hic@donga.com