One of the six sports making its debut at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan is a virtual taekwondo, The mixed-gender event will feature 16 athletes from Asia competing for three podium finishes, in a straight knockout tournament at the Toyohashi Gymnasium on October 2.
It was approved by the Olympic Council of Asia in June 2026, thus becoming the first-ever virtual sport at the . The traditional taekwondo – which is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching – is also among the 43 sports to be played at the this year.
Unlike the traditional taekwondo, the virtual version is a non-contact and a digitised regular sport. In Virtual Taekwondo, players use VR (virtual reality) headsets and motion -tracking devices which are attached to different parts of the body.
In Virtual Taekwondo, players will be positioned on adjacent 4×4 mats and will face the opponent in three 60-second rounds. During those three rounds, a player will use different forms of taekwondo moves against his or her virtual opponent from their designated areas.
One of the important components of Virtual Taekwondo is the Health Bar. Considered as the central component of the sport, each player starts a round with 1000 Health Points (HP). As a player registers more successful hits, their opponents’ HP decreases. Once the HP turns 0, it results in a knockout, allowing the opponent to win the round.
The player has to win two rounds to win the match. But in case neither of the player pulls off a knockout, the player with a greater HP at the end of 60 seconds wins the round. If there is a draw in HP, the following – headshots, kicks, and last hit – metrics are used in order as a tiebreaker to determine the winner of the match.
Kashish Malik will represent India at the in the Virtual Taekwondo event. This is Malik’s second Asian Games appearance after representing India in 2018, but in the traditional version. She exited in the quarterfinals of the Women’s 57 kg event.
The 26-year-old trains at Peace Taekwondo Academy and is supported by the Foundation. She recently won a bronze medal at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Ulaanbaatar.
