Ahn Hyang-sik Eliminated in Round of 16 of Virtual Taekwondo, Missing Out on Inaugural Champion Title

Ahn Hyang-sik (Yongin University), who aimed to become the inaugural Asian Games champion in virtual taekwondo, has failed to advance to the quarterfinals after losing her opening match.

Ahn lost 1-2 to Chau Ngoc Tuyet Sang of Vietnam in the round of 16 of the mixed individual virtual taekwondo event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Toyohashi General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on October 2.

Ahn faced difficulties in smoothly executing her match due to issues with equipment malfunction.

Ahn's match was originally scheduled to begin at 9:10 AM and last for 10 minutes, but it did not start until 9:20 AM and ended at 9:33 AM.

Throughout the first round, Ahn continuously targeted her opponent's head.

With 18 seconds remaining, the match was temporarily halted due to equipment issues. After it resumed, with her stamina gauge depleted to less than half, she allowed her opponent a right-foot roundhouse kick and conceded the first round.

In the second round, which began after a delay of about three minutes for equipment checks, Ahn reduced her opponent's stamina gauge to about half with successive side attacks and a downward kick.

Then, with 20 seconds left on the clock, she put the opponent's avatar into a "stun" state where it could not move for 3 seconds, secured the second round with a right-foot attack, and leveled the match.

However, after repeatedly allowing head attacks in the early part of the final third round, Ahn ultimately failed to turn the tide.

While her opponent had 400 HP (Health Points) remaining, accounting for 40 percent of maximum health, Ahn exhausted her stamina gauge, confirming her defeat.


Virtual taekwondo is a discipline where competitors wear virtual reality (VR) headsets and motion-tracking devices to compete in a virtual arena without physical contact.

It has been adopted as an official medal event for the first time at this tournament and is held as a mixed individual event without distinctions of gender or weight class.

Matches are conducted as best-of-three rounds, with each round lasting a maximum of 60 seconds.

The winner is the player who completely depletes the opponent's stamina gauge first or has more stamina remaining when the time limit expires.

Ahn will also compete in the men's 58kg kyorugi event at 2:30 PM to challenge for a medal.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.