HAVANA, July 17 (BSS/AFP) - Nine members of a Cuban team of 12 canoeists defected during a visit to Canada for a competition, a source close to the matter told AFP on Thursday.

The athletes were participating in the third Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup, which ran from July 9 until Thursday in Montreal.

Neither Cuba's national institute of sports (INDER) nor the country's canoe federation offered immediate comment on the case.

Cuban athletes have long taken advantage of their participation in international sporting events to defect from their communist-run island.

In October 2021, the country's under-23 baseball team went to Mexico for a tournament. Only about half came home.

Cuba is reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades -- one made worse by the fuel blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump in January.

Nationwide blackouts are frequent, and medications, basic goods and fuel are in short supply.