The Hong Kong ice hockey association was under fire for the latest national anthem blunder at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Sarajevo, with the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong said in a statement last week accusing the body of failing to explain when and where the right anthem was provided to tournament organizers in a preliminary report.

The incident saw a song linked to the 2019 anti-extradition protests played in place of the national anthem at the competition held on February 28.

Sources on Tuesday said that Annie Kwan Yuen-yee, leader of the city’s ice hockey team, told police in their investigation that she had emailed Ashley Ehlert, Deputy General Secretary of the International Ice Hockey Federation, on December 5 last year, with the email containing a website link to the correct Chinese national anthem for the representative team.

She had received a reply from Ehlert on the same day acknowledging receipt of the email, which said the info would be referred to Bosnia's ice hockey body- the competition organizer.

It is understood that Kwan also asked Florian Mayer - a Bosnia ice hockey body staff member - to verify that they had the correct anthem on hand, to which Mayer replied, “okay.”

However, the staffer eventually ignored the request citing she was preoccupied.

Hong Kong government officials and the SF&OC previously said, "strict measures will be taken if the Hong Kong ice hockey association is found at fault for the incident, including implementing "possible and appropriate sanctions" against the local sports body.