Cuba is in shock after its baseball team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in history.

The team lost 6-5 to Canada on Tuesday in a qualifier in Florida for teams from the
Americas for the Tokyo Olympics, due to open next month.

Baseball is Cuba's national sport and apart from three Olympic titles, it has 25 World Cup wins to its name, more than any other country.

The country was also dealt a heavy blow when star player Cesar Prieto abandoned the team and defected just hours after arriving in the United States for the Olympic qualifier
tournament.

The communist island's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in his reaction Wednesday, said the team had been "harassed" by Cuban expats in the stadium who displayed placards critical of his government during games.