Three More Cuban Baseball Players Desert Team in Canada

HAVANA TIMES — Three more players have joined the list of deserters from the Cuban team that attended the fifth Women’s Baseball World Cup in Edmonton, Canada, reported the Café Fuerte website yesterday.

The players disappeared when the Cuban delegation attended the closing ceremony at the Telus Field Stadium on Sunday night, said Ron Hayter, the executive director of the International Baseball Federation, who spoke to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

So far it’s not known the identity of three players who — along with earlier deserter Odreisleisis Pequero del Sol — are the first group of athletes to ever abandon Cuba’s female baseball team.

The team, coached by Juan Padilla, finished in last place in the competition after losing six of seven games in the qualifying stage and two additional ones while vying for fifth place.