Defections rock Cuba

HALF of the Cuban men’s field hockey team at the Pan American Games in Toronto have defected to the United States. A player and sources close to the Cuban delegation say eight of the 16 Cuban players have deserted, while team member Roger Aguilera put the number at seven, just the latest in a rash of Cuban defections across several sports. “Everyone knows what happened to our team, we have seven of them in the United States,” he said, after the decimated Cubans were hammered 13- 0 by Trinidad and Tobago. Cuba could only field eight players instead of the standard 11 plus five substitutes. They are not the first Cubans to defect during the games, after four rowers disappeared last week. It is not uncommon for Cuban athletes to defect, with baseball, boxing and volleyball the hardest hit.