HKIHA Chairman Mike Kan Yeung-kit said the association had prepared the USB flash drive containing the correct national anthem and Hong Kong regional flag beforehand.

He added that HKIHA had already lodged a complaint once the blunder happened, with the tournament organizers making an apology that the Chinese Embassy had accepted.

Kan pointed out that the incident was due to the organizers believing they already had a sample of the national anthem and did not meet with HKIHA to get the USB disk or crosscheck the anthem.

With SF&OC and the government still deciding to initiate the procedure of suspending HKIHA membership after hearing the above facts, Kan said they would submit a handwritten explanation along with improvement plans for their governance within a month, as requested by SF&OC.

Separately, Kenneth Fok Kai-kong stated that he has no plan to step down as the Honorary Chairman of the HKIHA.

He added that he understood and respected SF&OC's actions and hopes HKIHA will strengthen the governance and accountability of its leadership for capably and effectively leading the healthy development of the association and the ice hockey sport in the future.