Finally in the Assembly held by the World Taekwondo Federation at the Junior World Championship headquarters in Burnaby, Canada, the new changes to the competition rules were approved in order to make this sport more spectacular and not endanger its inclusion in the Olympic program.

The new rules will start being applied from the following year and among the highlights are that the kick to the chest protector will be worth two points, the fourth round will now last only one minute, and the penalties will no longer be worth half a point against but one. In addition, the leg raised for more than three seconds without taking another action or only using that technique to block will be subject to penalty.

"It will be interesting to see how the judges apply it, as this change seeks to achieve continuity in the fight, because generally the kick below the waist was used to stop the attack, by removing it we should see a more dynamic taekwondo," said the national coach Alfonso Victoria.

The front kick was a resource that Chinese athlete Shuyin Zheng used a lot against María Espinoza to block her and prevent any contact on her chest protector, while the Asian athlete took advantage of her height to only perform the said kick (raised leg) and with just a small touch scored points in her favor.

"We will see if this new rule is applied in the Grand Prix final to be held in Azerbaijan, which would be our observation point to see how we will handle the technical and tactical preparation for next year with an eye on the World Championship in Korea," said Victoria.

Meanwhile, coach Young In Bang, who was part of the coaches that made proposals for the rule change, indicated: "The changes that have been made are very good since many tall athletes use the cat kick. The penalties with kamjum will be stricter, meaning one point for the opponent."

However, taekwondo athletes feel that only a small touch was given to the rules and the only new thing would be the two points for electronic chest protectors.

"In reality, almost everything is the same, except for the two points for the chest protector. The three seconds rule and kicking below the waist were already penalized, it's practically the same. One will only have to make small modifications but our training and competition style won't vary much. Regarding the point for each sanction, it's also the same since now it's 10 points against to be disqualified, instead of five doubles. Almost everything is the same, they just gave it a small touch-up, so we'll have to keep working practically the same," said taekwondo athlete Damián Villa.