ARGENTINA : ' MARA. AND DONA ' : ARMISTICE

 

BUENOS AIRES : Argentine twins a living tribute to soccer great : So, in the Rorundo household in Buenos Aires, the spirit of Diego Maradona has a living tribute : twin nine year-old girls, Mara and Dona, named after the soccer legend who died last week.

The diminutive playmaker, one of the world's best ever who led Argentina to World Cup glory, inspired avid support through his magic on the pitch and his charisma off it, despite a turbulent personal life dogged by addiction.

Maradona died of heart failure on Wednesday last and was laid to rest on Thursday amid huge fanfare and high emotion, with thousands of people crowding the streets around the capital as his body was taken to be buried.

The names of the twins was never in doubt, said their dad, who had a tattoo of `maradonna on his back and proudly shows a photograph of the soccer star holding a picture of the two girls as infants.

Walter said the decision over the names went back to the. 1990 World Cup when he saw Maradonna cry inconsolably after losing the final 1-0 to West Germany.

He told his wife, Stella Meris Perez, the first time they met that they would one day have two daughters - named after the star.

Maradonna has almost cult status in Argentina, where his nickname,''D10S'' is a part of the Spanish word for ''God'' and his famed number 10 shirt Mara and Dona have their own Argentine shirts with the number and their names.

Mara, older than her sister by a minute, said she loved her name and the story behind it. [Reuters]