SINGAPORE: The decision to drop footballer Mika Baihakki from the national Under-17 team, after he opted out of an overseas training camp next month to prepare for examinations, has attracted plenty of discussion online.

Adding intrigue to the situation is that Mika’s father, former national stalwart Baihakki Khaizan, is currently a full-time employee of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), sitting in its technical division office.

The FAS has stated that requirements for squad selection were communicated in advance, and that "total commitment” was required for training, including the overseas camps.

While such criteria are reasonable from a high-performance standpoint, the online reaction has renewed an age-old debate about reconciling Singapore’s focus on academics with seri

See Full Page