Two Cuban boxers who deserted their team during last month's Panamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro will be sent home to the Communist-run island, Brazilian police said yesterday.

Guillermo Rigondeaux, two-time Olympic champion, and welterweight champion Erislandy Lara were briefly detained on Thursday in a resort town in Rio de Janeiro state for not having travel documents.

After leaving their team, they had apparently wanted to go to Europe and made no request for asylum in Brazil, but a police source said they now wanted to go home.

"They expressed their will to return to Cuba," a police source told Reuters. "They will be deported, we are waiting for their documents."

Travel documents of Cuban athletes are usually kept by the leaders of the country's delegation.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused the two boxers of defecting, saying they betrayed Cuba for dollars.

Police chief Felicio Laterca said yesterday the two were in a Rio hotel and police were watching them to prevent them "being seduced again" by foreign sports agents.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.