The advice is repeated endlessly in newspapers, televisions, social networks ... You have to take advantage of these hard weeks of isolation to carry out alternative activities, make up for lost time with something or someone and think of new horizons. To do something other than routine, what a remedy, in short. And among all the possibilities, none as particular as the one chosen by Heung-Min Son : do the military.

In South Korea, all citizens are required to complete a 21-month military service before turning 28. There are hardly any exceptions. One of them affects national athletes who have acquired great sports merits for the country. And Son clings to her, who sees the patriotic demand reduced to just one month.

According to British media reports, the attacker 'spur' has already traveled to South Korea, with permission from his club. The player, convalescing from a shoulder injury that under normal conditions would not have allowed him to play again this season, had already traveled to his country in February. Upon his return, Tottenham decided to quarantine 14 days as a precaution, since at that time South Korea was the second most powerful focus of coronavirus in the world after China.

Another quarantine

Now, Son will have to go through a new preventive quarantine in his country, since at present the tables have turned and it is the East that is looking at the West with suspicion because of the pandemic. When that two-week period ends, Son will comply with Korean law obligations starting April 20 .

That of the Tottenham forward and military service seems, in reality, a never ending story. Despite being one of the best attackers in the Premier League, Son was on the point of not being able to take advantage of the exception contained in Korean law, which would have forced him to stop his sports career for almost two years. And it is already known that professional sports do not wait for anyone.

At the World Cup in Russia in 2018, his tears after South Korea's elimination in the group stage became one of the iconic photographs of the tournament. The pass to the round of 16 guaranteed him to avoid full military service, but he had not succeeded. His last chance to do so was to come a few months later at the Asian Games. Tottenham, of course, authorized him to play it. He had to win the gold medal yes or yes and he did it. The military service requirement went from 21 months to one. And now, the full global pandemic, Son will fulfill his country.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • South Korea
  • China
  • First division
  • international
  • sports
  • Coronavirus

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