Inaugural S’pore Open Virtual Taekwondo C’ships a way back into competition for ex-national exponent

SINGAPORE – It has been 20 years since a slipped disc ended Brian Peh’s competitive career as a national taekwondo exponent. But the 44-year-old’s recent foray into virtual taekwondo has given him confidence to take the next steps to return to physical sparring.

On June 9, Peh prevailed in the masters mixed category of the inaugural Singapore Open Virtual Taekwondo Championships, with his son Justin’s victory in the individual male category handing him an early Father’s Day present.

In virtual taekwondo, players wear virtual reality headsets and motion-tracking nodes in their hands and on their shins. Sparring is done in a non-contact fashion, with the exponents’ kicks mirrored by virtual avatars. There are no weight classes, unlike the physical version.

“We told each other to come here and have fun, we didn’t think much about getting first place,” said the elder Peh, who emerged ahead of three others to win his category.

He has already set his sights on two international competitions. First, the July 19-21 International Taekwondo Masters Open Championship at Our Tampines Hub.

He will be taking part in virtual taekwondo and poomsae, where an exponent performs a sequence of defence and attack moves.

Next, the 2025 World Masters Games in Taipei, where he hopes to return to kyorugi or physical sparring.

Peh, who is monitoring his health closely, said his Singapore Open victory at the Singapore Taekwondo Federation Bedok National Training Centre has left him feeling more confident.

“This is the first stepping stone, it’s good news that I don’t feel any pain, just a bit tired,” added the general director of a local martial arts school.

Peh, who also coaches Justin in taekwondo, prompted him to sign up for the Singapore Open, where the 20-year-old won the individual male category ahead of six others despite it being his first experience in virtual taekwondo.

Justin found the virtual martial art to be “quite fair” because of its non-contact nature, adding: “The height for the characters inside the game are the same. So it’s quite a fair fight and you won’t get injured from this sport.”

Ma Bowen, who won the junior mixed gold ahead of 12 other competitors, also appreciates the standard avatar heights. “I’m not really tall, so that’s an advantage,” said the 14-year-old, who is 1.6m.

The low risks of the non-contact sport were also what drew Thomas Mok, head coach of a taekwondo team, to take part in the Singapore Open.

The 39-year-old, who won a bronze in the masters mixed category, said: “When age catches up, stamina and injuries take a longer time to recover. As a father, I don’t wish for myself to get injured and for my family to suffer.”

He had first encountered virtual taekwondo at the 2023 Olympic Esports Week in Singapore.

“It will be safer because there’s no contact, you can train your daughter and enjoy at the same time,” said Mok, whose daughter is in primary school.

Virtual taekwondo also allows for sparring between male and female competitors in mixed categories, something that is not practised in physical taekwondo competitions.

This added to Gwen Koh’s experience in the martial art. The 15-year-old won a bronze in the junior mixed category.

Gwen, who is on the national poomsae team, said: “I think it’s quite exciting because you can see the different varieties, like how others compete, how the males move, so I think it’s quite exciting to try out.”

The Singapore Sports School student found virtual taekwondo to be a mix of both poomsae and kyorugi.

“It looks more like sparring but there’s a lot of poomsae moves,” she added.

All podium finishers at the Singapore Open will be invited to train for the inaugural World Taekwondo Virtual Championships in Singapore on Nov 16 and 17, before going through a selection process.