Virtual taekwondo, a gamified form of the sport using virtual reality, makes its debut at the Asian Games as it gains momentum in Southeast Asia. The reporting highlights Vietnamese athlete Nguyen Thanh Hien Linh, who first tried the sport in 2024 during a competition in Singapore. Despite being an elite national taekwondo champion, she described early struggles in the virtual arena, saying she was “just kicking into the air” and lacked understanding of strategy, technique in the VR setting, and how the technology worked. Two years later, Linh is among athletes succeeding in the format, after winning a gold medal at a virtual taekwondo event in Malaysia and joining a growing community of participants across the region.
The sport is described as being developed by World Taekwondo together with Singapore-based technology firm Refract Technologies. In competitions, athletes wear VR headsets to enter a digital 3D arena and use motion-tracking sensors to translate their movements into the virtual bout.
