Imagine taekwondo without body contact, the sport of playing with a racket in a glass-walled court, or football played on a curved table.
These are new images waiting for even long-time sports fans at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) - the opening event on Saturday (September 19) and lasting for 16 days.
1 of the 6 sports participating in the Asian Games for the first time is virtual taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo). Although it sounds like a video game, athletes will not sit in front of the screen.
Instead, they wear virtual reality glasses and motion-tracking sensors, using kicks and realistic body movements to control virtual characters. All competition events take place in the virtual arena, allowing athletes to compete without directly hitting opponents.
This virtual competition format also allows athletes to compete regardless of weight or gender; specifically, 16 male and female athletes will face off in a knockout tournament on October 2.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) will have 6 medal-scoring events, alongside other martial arts such as ju-jitsu and kurash.
The competition format at ASIAD 20 requires fighters to take the ring many times in just a few days, and at the same time quickly recover their fitness and adapt to many different fighting styles.
Padel - one of the fastest growing racket sports in the world - will also appear for the first time at ASIAD.
Often played in doubles, the sport incorporates elements of tennis and squash on a smaller court, surrounded by glass walls.
These glass walls are part of the competition area, helping to maintain lasting balls and create balls from unexpected angles. Players make serves from the bottom up, and a small court size requires rapid reflexes as well as particularly important teamwork.
Teqball only needs two things: a curved table and a soccer ball.
Players pass the ball back and forth without using their hands, instead they control the ball with their feet, knees, chest, or head. They are not allowed to continuously use the same body part, forcing them to frequently change the way they hold and return the ball.
After debuting at the Tokyo Olympics, surfing will also participate in ASIAD. Surfers will be scored based on the difficulty, diversity and technique of performing the moves, while facing an uncontrollable factor: the sea.
Meanwhile, BMX freestyle brings performances back to the ground but is still full of surprises and unpredictable.
In the time counting sections, athletes perform skillful techniques on the track including slopes and obstacles, thereby scoring points based on difficulty, altitude, creativity and performance skills.
Unlike speed BMX racing, this sport does not focus on who finishes first. The goal here is to create the most impressive performance without falling, turning this event into a combination of sports and spectacular aerial performances.
