Members of the Council's Public Accounts Committee said the NOC "lacked transparency" when choosing athletes for the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, according to the South China Morning Post.

In one case a swimmer was not selected despite recording the fastest time in his event, it is claimed.

Athletes were also allegedly not informed that selection criteria for the Asian Games included a requirement to be a scholarship athlete at Hong Kong's Sports Institute.

The criticism follows a report released by a spending watchdog last month which claimed that nearly half of the SF&OC subcommittees had not met for two years and that "oversights" had led to rising costs.

"The Olympic Committee spends HKD20 million (£2 million/$2.5 million/€2.3 million) a year of public money but has it been fair to the athletes?" said Public Accounts Committee chairman Abraham Razack.

"From the swimming case, we can see the situation is not ideal as the Olympic Committee has not done enough. 

"The case has highlighted the problem of value in the use of public money."

The South China Morning Post said that the SF&OC would receive HKD5 million (£523,000/$645,000/€588,000) a year in public money for the next five years, to improve its governance and that of its 79 member associations.

Public Accounts Committee member Tanya Chan said there should be a "subvention agreement" between the Government, the SF&OC and its member associations on a yearly basis as a "performance indicator".

Ronnie Wong Man-chiu represented the SF&OC at the meeting as the organisation's honorary secretary general.

insidethegames has approached the NOC for comment.