The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced on Tuesday table tennis players Tie Yana and Lin Ling representing Hong Kong are not qualified to play at the upcoming Beijing Olympics finals less than five months away.

Tie Yana trains for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games at Beijing's National Gymnastics Centre in this file photo taken on March 23, 2007. [Agencies]

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stipulates athletes must have a passport to play for a country or region. However, Tie and Lin, who have lived in Hong Kong for less than seven years, have no other documents to show they are residents of the HKSAR, but temporary visas.

Currently ranked within the world's top 20, Tie and Lin automatically have Olympics berths.

If Tie and Lin are not allowed to participate in the Olympics, their teammate Zhang Rui, who isn't in the top 20, will be one of the replacements. But Zhang has no resident status either.

The trio, who trained in table tennis when they were young in Chinese mainland and used to play for their respective provincial teams, are Hong Kong’s best hopes for thwarting China’s bid for gold.

However, the case is still pending because the IOC has the final say. If the IOC approves Tie and Lin’s Olympic qualifications, they must play the world qualification games in Beijing in May to regain their berths.

Zhang, though didn't qualify through her ranking, earned her Olympic spot after her performance at the Asian qualification games earlier this month.

ITTF’s decision on Tie and Lin comes after the table tennis body passed a proposal to limit the number of players switching associations last month. ITTF President Adham Sharara said the sport is unable to recruit promising players at junior levels since national teams tend to select players willing to leave China.

Tie who played in the 2004 Athens Olympics said in her blog that she couldn't do anything but wait for the final result before the world qualifications begin.