The basketball player elected to the Finnish Defense Forces’ sports school has not registered for the service, Ilta-Sanomat says.
Basketball League Playing in the NBA Lauri Markkasen was scheduled to begin conscription in the Defense Forces Sports School in April. However, he did not inform Ilta-Sanomat by have not arrived at their place of employment.
Sports school spring arrival batch training started April 11. Markkanen, who represents Cleveland Cavaliers, in the NBA season ended April 15, but a basketball player assigned to the Guards Jaeger Regiment has not arrived in Santa Hamina, according to IS.
Conscripts selected for the sports school serve either in the Guards Jaeger Regiment in Santahamina, Helsinki, or in the Kainuu Brigade.
Sports School Coaching Manager Jari Karinkanta did not comment to the IS on matters relating to the individual, but shed light on the situation at a general level.
“The condition for opting out is deferral. The deferral application must tell the Defense Forces Regional Office a plan for when to take up the post and how to justify the need for deferral. We can’t just announce that we won’t come, ”Karinkanta told the newspaper.
Obligation to perform military service during peacetime expires by at the end of the year in which the conscript turns 30 years of age. Markkanen will turn 25 at the end of May.
If Markkanen plans to enter the service in April 2023, he will have to apply for a place at the Sports School again.
“It probably wouldn’t get caught up in his sports merit even then,” Karinkanta told IS.