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Ki Sung-Yueng
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng faces 18 months compulsory military service after Scottish giants Celtic refused to allow him to play at the Asian Games.
The 21-year-old was prevented from taking part at the multi-sports event in Guangzhou, China when Celtic boss Neil Lennon required cover for injured captain Scott Brown.
But Ki was desperate to play in the tournament after the South Korean authorities promised immunity from national service if the squad was able to secure soccer gold.
'Every person in Korea must go to the military. Even football players must do it by the age of 29,' Ki told The Scotsman newspaper.
'The Asian Games are on just now and if the team win a gold medal they can avoid military service. But because it is not a FIFA competition, Celtic do not have to let me go. I asked if I could go, but Celtic said no as there are a lot of players injured here.'
Lennon said: 'Ki's a very influential and important player for us and he's just broken into the team.
'It's a great opportunity for him to bed himself down and we don't want to lose him for a considerable amount of time because we already have (Scott) Brown and (Baram) Kayal out.'
Ki was named the SPL`s Young Player of the Month for October.