Madrid - Four players on Cuba's national basketball team have defected and requested asylum from Spain, Spanish authorities said Wednesday.

Officials in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria, said the four turned up at a police station and made their asylum request.

Cuba's national basketball team had played a match against the Spanish national team last Friday in Las Palamas.

In Cuba, the basketball players' action is regarded as desertion, a term usually applying in the military sphere, and according Spanish accounts punishable by a prison term of up to seven years.(dpa)