National soccer player Eri Irianto dies after last match
National soccer player Eri Irianto dies after last match
JAKARTA (JP): National soccer player Eri Irianto died early on
Monday at Dr. Sutomo General Hospital in Surabaya, hours after
playing his last match with his club Persebaya Surabaya. He was
26.
Eri was buried in Desa Kraton public cemetery in his hometown
on Monday morning. He is survived by his wife, Friska Putri
Nilamsari, whom he just married on March 19.
The club's physician, Herry Siswanto, said that Eri suffered
a heart failure. Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) spokesman
Eddi Elison said the association mourned Eri's death and had sent
secretary-general Tri Goestoro to verify the cause of death.
Eri reportedly suffered breathing difficulty when his club
fought PSIM Yogyakarta on Sunday in the Bank Mandiri national
soccer league action at Gelora 10 Nopember Stadium in Surabaya.
Herry recalled that in the 44th minute, Eri was replaced by
Nova Ariyanto following a complaint that his right temple was
hurting after clashing with an unidentified PSIM player.
"We applied a compress to his head and he said he felt better.
While he was sitting on the bench, he suddenly suffered
difficulty in breathing. We rushed him to the emergency ward of
Dr. Sutomo Hospital," Herry was quoted by Antara as saying on
Monday.
After hours of medical treatment, Eri was pronounced dead at
1:45 a.m.
In Jakarta, Eddi said Tri would meet with Persebaya's medical
team for verification. Eddi said the association wanted to be
sure that each player was in top physical condition prior to
matches and that they suffered from no diseases which could
endanger them or their teammates.
"Eri was diagnosed as suffering from a heart attack, but he
might have suffered from another disease which we don't know
about," he said.
Born on Jan. 12 in Sidoarjo, East Java, Eri has played soccer
since he was 16. His first performance in a national tournament
was in the 1990 Suratin Cup junior tournament, where he was
elected team captain. He successfully led the East Java team to
win the cup.
In 1993, he joined Petrokimia Putra Gresik soccer club. He
managed to take the club to the final of the first Indonesian
Soccer League (now the Bank Mandiri soccer league). He was picked
up as a member of the 1995 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games national
team in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Unfortunately in 1997, a knee injury prevented him from
competing in the 1997 SEA Games here. He also failed to become a
1999 SEA Games team member.
He had been with Persebaya since the second league season in
1995. (ivy)