Disappeared tennis player
Is it all just a “misunderstanding”? Peng Shuai denies abuse allegations
The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai denies in a new video that she was abused by a high party official.
© Andy Brownbill / AP
The disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai weighs on the preparations for the winter games in Beijing. Now the 35-year-old speaks out in a video – and speaks of “misunderstandings” in her rape allegations,
China’s tennis star Peng Shuai has denied having alleged sexual assault against a top Chinese politician. In a video interview with the Singapore newspaper “Lianhe Zaobao”, the tennis player said: “I have to emphasize one point that is extremely important: I have never said or written that someone has sexually assaulted me. ” She feels misunderstood after her words.
It was the first time that Peng Shuai spoke directly on the camera. The interview took place on Sunday on the sidelines of a cross-country skiing event in Shanghai. The former world number one in doubles had published a post on the Weibo social network at the beginning of November, which was understood as an allegation of sexual assault by former politburo member Zhang Gaoli. The post was deleted soon after. Since then, state censorship has also blocked any debate on the Chinese Internet about it.
Peng Shuai: Mail to Weibo was a private matter
In the video interview, Peng Shuai described her Weibo post as a “private matter.” “Many misunderstandings” may have occurred among readers, said the tennis star. In response to the post, athletes, politicians and human rights activists from around the world expressed their concern for the tennis player’s well-being. Because the signals from China about the fate of the 35-year-olds weren’t enough, the WTA women’s tour suspended all tournaments in China and Hong Kong at the beginning of December, even though China is an important donor.
The case also overshadows preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. The German President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, came under pressure after speaking to the tennis star on video channels. He repeated in a “sports show” interview on Saturday that the IOC continued to rely on “quiet diplomacy” in her case.
Peng Shuai is said to live unhindered in Beijing
Peng Shuai also emphasized in the interview that she lives freely in Beijing and is not under supervision: “Why should someone monitor me? I have always been free.” She also wrote her email to WTA boss Steve Simon from mid-November of her own free will. In it she had already emphasized that the reports about her, “including the allegation of sexual assault”, were not true and that she was fine. The letter, however, only increased the WTA’s concern.
When asked whether she wanted to travel abroad, Peng Shuai pointed out that she no longer actively plays tennis and that she currently has no intention of leaving China because of the pandemic: “What should I do out there now?”