Medal joy for Ki as he avoids national service

Ki Sung-Yueng was delighted to pick up an Olympic bronze medal- and avoid national service.

All South Koreans must do two years national service before the age of 28 with very few exemptions.

Cha-Du-Ri earned an exemption by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2002 with an Olympic medal also allowing the players to body-swerve a call up.

Ki’s winning penalty against Team GB gave the Koreans a chance of a medal with last night’s 2-0 win in Cardiff over Japan wildly celebrated.

There was no love lost between the two sides with Ki one of three Koreans yellow carded for fouling Japanese star Yuki Otsu during a 20 minute spell in the first half.

During that period Arsenal’s Park Chu-Young’s held off three defenders before shooting low into the net in the 38th minute with Koo Jacheol doubling the lead in the 57th minute.

While his SPL and Scottish Cup winning medals mean a lot to the midfielder the dividend of avoiding national service on the back of an Olympic bronze delighted Ki and his team-mates.

The Celtic midfielder said: “Military service was something we were all going to have to do, and we are all glad to avoid it, because it means we can play in Europe for longer. It was a big motivation, definitely.”

Goalscorer Park added: “I’m very happy to win the bronze medal and everybody here will now get a new chance by being exempted from military service.

“That’s what I’m really pleased about because that was our aim at the start of the tournament.”

Ki added: “This is the happiest moment of my life,” he added. “We were very tired after the quarter-final, but our mentality to win the game was very strong.

“Normally we pressure in front of the centre circle, but we were tired tonight. We weren’t fresh enough to play that way, so we dropped down a little bit, but we still had quick players up front to hit them on the counter-attack.”

Asked about his future and speculation of a move away from Celtic he added: “I’m not sure, I haven’t heard anything about that.

“I just need some rest now and spend some time with my family, and then I will think about my future.”

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