Local businessman attacks Chilean soccer player at disco

JAKARTA (JP): Chilean soccer player Nelson Hernan Leon Sanchez was admitted to hospital early on Tuesday morning after allegedly being attacked by a man at Stadium discotheque on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, Central Jakarta.

Sanchez, 33, suffered severe head wounds after businessman Munawar Akbar Ali allegedly pistol-whipped him on the disco's ground floor. The injured player was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Angelo Espinoza, a friend of Nelson's, said he, Ariel Gutierrez and Sanchez, all Chilean soccer players, arrived at the disco at 4 a.m on Tuesday.

"We were out to relax after our participation in the Bank Mandiri national soccer league, which kicked off last year," said 24-year-old Espinoza, a midfield player with the Jakarta-based Persijatim club.

He said earlier in the evening the three of them had visited Jalan-Jalan discotheque in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

"Nelson and Ariel intended to spend their night here before they went back to Medan," he told reporters at the city police headquarters.

Sanchez is a midfield player and Gutierrez, 23, is a striker for the Medan-based PSMS club.

PSMS and Persijatim failed to make it into the semifinals of the national soccer league, which are scheduled to take place on July 20.

The competition's quarterfinals took place in Jakarta recently.

Espinoza said the three men became separated on entering the disco.

"Ariel and I bought tickets on the ground floor of the building, while Nelson walked ahead of us into the disco, located on the fourth floor of the building," he said, adding that Sanchez was seen entering the lift behind a man in his thirties, later identified as Munawar Akbar Ali.

Sanchez said he and the man then ascended using the lift.

"The man was trying to shut the door, but I opened it as I also intended to use the lift," he said.

Ali, a resident of a luxury Pondok Indah housing complex in South Jakarta, became angry.

"He made a fool of me because he played around with the door several times," Ali, who claimed to be a businessman, said at the city police headquarters.

Ali accused the soccer player of kicked him several times in the jaw and leg on their journey to the fourth floor.

Sanchez rejected the allegations, saying he did nothing of the sort.

"I'm a foreigner and I don't want to make problems here," he said.

After spending several minutes quarreling, both men agreed to go to the ground floor to settle the matter with the disco's security staff.

Ali, who apparently lost patience during the discussion with the security staff, pulled out a handgun and hit Nelson's in the face with it.

"He was apparently drunk," said Espinoza, who later reported the incident to the local police.

The police seized the gun, the make of which they did not mention, and brought all the men to the city police headquarters.

After rejecting the offer from Ali to settle the matter peacefully, Espinoza and Sanchez filed a report with the city police headquarters. (asa)