Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai denied making sexual assault allegations against former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, after more than a month of concern about her well-being, including the WTA decision of suspending all their tournaments in China.
The tennis player talked on Sunday with a journalist from a Singapore-based Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao. It was her first comments to international media since her now-deleted post on her verified account on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, which detailed the allegations, was published on November 2.
“I have never spoken or written about anyone sexually assaulting me,” Peng told on Sunday, with the video becoming viral on Twitter. The interview took place on the sidelines of the International Ski Federation’s cross-country skiing competition in Shanghai.
Shuai denies sexual allegations, WTA still have concerns
When asked about her allegations, the two-Grand Slam champion said there was a mistake about her post. “First of all, it’s my personal privacy. There possibly has been a lot of misunderstanding. Therefore, there should not be such a distorted interpretation here,” she said.
She also said she has “always been free”, when asked if she had any concerns about her safety. However, a spokesperson from the Women’s Tennis Association told CNN on Monday that “these appearances do not alleviate or address the WTA’s significant concerns about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion.”
While the spokesperson said “it was again good to see Peng Shuai in a public setting and we certainly hope she is doing well,”the WTA “remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.”
