Diego Armando Maradona, 46, the Argentine soccer star of the 1980s, was tranquilized on Thursday in the clinic where he was interned on Wednesday, in Buenos Aires, his personal doctor, Alfredo Cahe, told local radio.

Maradona's life was not at risk and his hospitalization is preventative, although it may last several days, Cahe said.

The hospitalization "has nothing to do with drugs" but was instead caused by a crash in blood pressure, triggered by overeating and binge drinking, Cahe said.

Maradona, who captained Argentina's national soccer squad to World Cup victory in Mexico in 1986, was checked into Buenos Aires's Guemes Sanatorium at 9:45 on Wednesday night.

He is now in a room on the 13th floor of the building, alongside his ex-wife, Claudia Villafane and his two daughters, Dalma and Gianinna. He will remain there for several days, before going to Switzerland for weight loss treatment, the doctor said.

Maradona "had binged not only on food, but also on drink, and was smoking three cigars a day, even though he had never smoked before," said Cahe.

The former soccer star had woken up in the clinic at 2:40 a.m. and began insulting Cahe and was extremely unhappy to be there, Cahe said. The player had to be sedated, he added.

"Diego was in pretty bad shape mentally, because of family problems which I will not discuss," said the doctor. "There were important things he could not handle, and this had made him depressed," he added.

The soccer star had gained a lot of weight and become bloated. After a few days at the Sanatorium, he may spend 10 or 15 days in a Swiss weight-loss clinic.

Last week, Maradona had been given a complete medical check in the Los Arcos Clinic in Palermo, an upscale neighborhood in Buenos Aires: a clinic that refused to admit him on Wednesday night during his blood pressure emergency.

"Diego has assured me that he has not taken cocaine for a long time and I can corroborate that with urine tests that we have been carrying out," said the doctor.

Maradona had a gastric by-pass in February 2005, and following the operation reduced his weight from 120kg to 76kg. He now weighs 82 kg due to the bloating that follows bingeing, the doctor said.

Source: Xinhua