The honorary vice-chairman of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee has urged the government to once again press internet companies to ensure accurate information comes top of results for online searches regarding the national anthem.

Pui Kwan-kay made the comment on an RTHK programme on Thursday, two days after another blunder involving a 2019 protest song being played instead of the national anthem for Hong Kong players at an international sports event.

Pui blamed the organisers of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Sarajevo for the latest mistake, saying they had been careless.

"Many organisers of international competitions use internet search engines to find the national anthems of participating countries and regions. Often mistakes could be made because the incorrect national anthem was placed as the top search result, and [organisers] played it immediately after searching. I believe this was no exception," he said.

"The government has the responsibility to again reach out to internet service providers to make sure the correct national anthem is shown as the top search result."

Google officials have previously refused the government's request for them to change their search engine results, explaining that they are based on the algorithm used.

In response to RTHK's enquiries, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) apologised for the incident.

“The IIHF has interviewed the necessary organising committee staff or volunteers involved in the incident and have determined that the incident was not intentional, but rather an inadvertent error," it said.

"While the IIHF – along with the [International Olympic Committee] – put safeguards in place to prevent such situations, sometimes the best safeguards still result in accidental errors."

The federation said an apology was made to SAR representatives and was immediately accepted.
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Last updated: 2023-03-02 HKT 16:15