Four Cuban basketball players who failed to turn up for their squad's flight home from the Canary Islands this week have begun the process of seeking asylum in Spain, the local government said on Wednesday.

Georvis Elias Sayus, Grismay Paumier, Taylor Garcia and Geofry Silvestre will now have to wait 30 days for a response from the Spanish authorities, according to a spokesman for the islands' government.

Cuban athletes regularly abandon their national squads on trips abroad, often seeking the lucrative professional contracts they are denied at home.

Baseball pitcher Aroldis Chapman went missing from a tournament in Rotterdam in July and three cyclists stayed on in Mexico after competing in a recent event there.

The Cuban basketball squad had traveled to the Canary Islands for a series of friendly fixtures and lost 94-57 to Spain in Las Palmas on Friday.

Source: Reuters