Four Cuba basketball players go AWOL in Canary Islands

MADRID (Reuters) - Four members of Cuba's team have gone missing in the Canary Islands and may claim political asylum, said the president of the islands' basketball federation.

Five players originally went AWOL and only one of them turned up for the flight back to Havana on Monday, federation head Jose Armas told the Spanish media.

"We know what sportsmen and women tend to do when they leave Cuba and travel to compete in another country, request political asylum," Armas said.

Spain's basketball federation (FEB) was unavailable for comment and the interior ministry said it would be unable to confirm the players' absence unless they claimed asylum. Cuba lost 94-57 to Spain in Las Palmas on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Tony Jimenez)