The Hindu : Sport / Football : Maradona undergoes surgery

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Monday, Mar 07, 2005

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Maradona undergoes surgery

BOGOTA, MARCH 6. Diego Maradona successfully underwent stomach surgery at a clinic in Colombia on Saturday to reduce his ballooning waistline, his doctor said.

``The operation was carried out without any problems,'' Francisco Holguin told The Associated Press over telephone. ``The patient is back in his room, has woken up, and will leave the clinic in three days or so.''

Holguin said the operation to staple the 44-year-old Argentine's stomach, also known as a gastric bypass, lasted two hours. The surgery reduces the stomach's capacity for holding food and bypasses part of the small intestine, forcing the patient to eat less. Since quitting professional soccer in 1997, Maradona has grown unrecognisably fat as he struggled to overcome cocaine addiction at a clinic in Cuba.

Holguin earlier this week said Maradona must show discipline, change his eating habits and exercise more.

``The patient must understand that the post-operative stage is critical, that he must submit to very strict dietary measures,'' Holguin said. — AP

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