National anthem blunders: Hong Kong police to investigate playing of protest song at Dubai powerlifting event
- Acting sports commissioner commends athlete and committee members at the scene for reacting immediately when wrong song was played
- Technical team comprising volunteers responsible for error, president of Asian Powerlifting Federation says in letter
Hong Kong police will investigate after a protest song from the anti-government unrest in 2019 was wrongly played instead of the Chinese national anthem at an overseas powerlifting competition, the acting sports commissioner has said, while the organiser of the event has apologised for the blunder.
Paul Cheng Ching-wan, from the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, on Sunday said police and the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China would carry out a probe into the incident. The force has previously launched investigations into similar mix-ups involving the Chinese national anthem at recent overseas rugby matches.
A video online showed that in the latest incident on Friday at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championship in Dubai, the song “Glory to Hong Kong” was played during a medal awarding ceremony where athlete Susanna Lin won gold. After the 15-second mark, Lin was seen making a “T” sign with her hands to alert the organisers of the blunder, with the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers” being played soon after.
“Glory to Hong Kong” was written during the 2019 anti-government movement, becoming a protest anthem sung at rallies and by some spectators at football matches.
The Asian Powerlifting Federation, the organiser of the event, on Saturday said in a letter that a technical team had made the error.
“The technical team [is] made up of volunteers from various countries and the members do not have [an] idea what the Hong Kong, China national anthem should be,” Farshid Soltani, the organisation’s president, said in the letter addressed to the Hong Kong Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association.
“The technical team [had] downloaded all national anthems from the internet to prepare for countries who did not bring their national anthems. As the technical team needed to manage multiple versions in the computer, the incorrect file was not deleted and was opened during the award ceremony.”
