Asia Rugby Apologises Over Incorrect Hong Kong Anthem

A Hong Kong government spokesperson said they had written to the Hong Kong Rugby Union and that the Hong Kong team noticed the mistake.  China’s correct national anthem, March of the Volunteers, was played during the prize ceremony after Hong Kong won the final.

Following the incident, the Hong Kong Rugby Union expressed “extreme dissatisfaction” over the incident and that Asia Rugby, have “expressed their sincere apologies and assured us it will not happen again”.

Asia Rugby said in its apology referring to the wrong national anthem being played for the Hong Kong Men’s 7s team before the final at the Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2022 in Incheon on Sunday 13th November 2022:

“Asia Rugby and Korea Rugby Union would like to sincerely apologise to the Hong Kong Rugby Union, the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for this incident.

The incident happened due to a simple human error from a junior member of the local organising committee, playing a song downloaded from the internet instead of the correct anthem.”