Muju, Korea, September 7, 2026: For the first time in Asian Games history, taekwondo players will have the chance to win not one but two gold medals, Yonhap News reports.
This is because the sports programme includes virtual taekwondo for the first time, giving athletes the opportunity to win this title as well as their own weight category competition.
In the digitized version of the Korean martial art, practitioners wearing virtual reality (VR) headgear and motion-tracking devices will take on their virtual opponents.
The goal is to deplete their opponent's power gauge - a la combat video games - or have more left on their gauge at the end of the 60-second round.
For South Korea, An Hyang-sik will compete in both real-life and virtual taekwondo, with his sights set firmly on winning two gold medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Taekwondo opens on October 1, with virtual taekwondo slated for the morning of Friday, October 2.
"I will try to play our national anthem twice in Japan," An, 22, told reporters Sunday, after competing in a World Taekwondo (WT) Grand Prix event in Muju.
He will compete in the men's 58kg against humans, while there are no weight divisions in the mixed-gender virtual version.
"We only have one minute each round in virtual taekwondo, compared to two minutes in the human taekwondo. So we really have to give our max effort in that short minute," An said.
"We get to take more off the power gauge with shots to the head than to the body. And it takes more energy out of you, too, and it can be hard on the hamstrings."
With no weight classes, An said that smaller and quicker athletes may enjoy an advantage.
"Bigger and heavier athletes may be relatively slow with their kicks, whereas lighter practitioners can get off two or three kicks in succession," An said. "Athletes who are flexible and precise with their kicks could also have an edge."
An said he works on virtual taekwondo in the morning and then turns his focus to human combats in his afternoon and evening sessions.
"My goal is to win gold medals in both and I am full of confidence," he said.