Philippines claims gold in first-ever World Taekwondo Virtual tourney

Zyka Angelica Santiago took home the gold in the Young Adult Individual Mixed category at the 1st World Taekwondo Virtual Championships held at OCBC Arena in Singapore.

Virtual taekwondo is a new form of real-time competition format where competitors use virtual reality headgear and the state-of-the-art motion tracking AXIS technology to battle virtual opponents. 

In the final, Santiago defeated Justin Peh of Singapore 2-0, while So-hyun Eom of South Korea clinched the bronze medal. 

Before taking on Peh, Santiago defeated Yousef Jar of Saudi Arabia, Naqah Hamdani of Pakistan, Quang Phuc Nguyen of Vietnam, Panbua Moramat of Thailand, and Eom.

Other Philippine competitors included Darius Venerable and Juvenille Faye Crisostomo, who both concluded their campaigns in the Last 16, while Justin Kobe Macario lost his Round of 32 match against Malaysia.