China's first virtual taekwondo teaching laboratory was recently officially opened at Beijing International Studies University (BISU). On the day of its inauguration, the university's Department of Physical Education hosted an event highlighting the innovative applications of virtual taekwondo teaching in higher education sports programs.

The lab was jointly established by the university's Department of Physical Education and Education Development Foundation, and Taekwondo Air (Shanghai) Sports Brokerage Development Co Ltd.

It marks a significant breakthrough in the digital transformation of sports education and represents an important step in university-enterprise collaboration in the integration of sports technology and teaching.

Taekwondo practitioners try the wearable devices in the lab at BISU.

With the help of virtual reality and artificial intelligence technologies, the lab creates an immersive and interactive training environment. Students can engage in real-time interactions with virtual opponents through wearable devices for contactless combat training, unrestrained by the space and time limitations of traditional instruction and forming an efficient, safe and intelligent teaching model.

The laboratory pioneers digital taekwondo teaching and provides a model for other institutions.

Liu Man, a professor, secretary of the CPC Department of Physical Education Committee and director of the department, said: "The lab will be deeply integrated into our university's 'Sports + Technology' curriculum system and will serve as an engine for cultivating new types of sports talent. In the future, we plan to develop various teaching modules to cultivate versatile talents who are skilled in technology, understand data and are proficient in languages, driving China's sports technology to the world with a 'Technology + Sports + Foreign Language' tri-core approach."

Zhang Yan, an associate professor and the project leader of the lab, said: "This virtual taekwondo equipment transforms traditional experiential teaching into a data-driven approach, moving teaching from 'based on intuition' to 'based on science'. The immersive training scenarios enhance participants' focus, allowing them to perform various moves in a safe virtual environment and experience the fun of actual combat, providing advantages in practical teaching."

The university and enterprise intend to further expand their cooperation in areas such as sports events, talent cultivation and research transformation, jointly contributing to the quality upgrade of China's sports education.