The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai He now declares that he has never accused anyone of sexual abuse and that his publication on the Weibo social network November 2 was a “private matter” about which people have “misunderstandings,” according to a video posted by Singapore ‘Lianhe Zaobao’.
“I have never said or written that someone sexually assaulted me. I want to emphasize this to clarify it,” said the tennis player, who was in Shanghai participating in an event together with other Chinese sports stars such as the former basketball player Yao Ming.
In her November statement on Weibo, a network similar to Twitter, Peng revealed that she had an intermittent love affair with the former Chinese vice prime minister for years. Zhang Gaoli, whom he accused of having sexually abused her once. The message was censored on Chinese social networks and she was missing for days.
In the video, Peng is puzzled when the reporter asks her if she has been to her home in Beijing “freely” and unguarded and says, “Why should someone be watching me? I’ve been home in freedom“.
“Why should someone be watching me? I’ve been home at large.”
The athlete has also confirmed the authorship of a letter from her addressed to the president of the Association the Association of WTA, Steve Simon: “I wrote the Chinese version and, as my level of English is not very good, CGTN published a translated version with the same meaning as the original, “he said.
In this letter, Peng claimed “to be well and resting” and denied being missing, as well as the allegations of sexual abuse. All this only increased the concern towards the Chinese player, of which images and videos were distributed, once again through media and journalists close to the Government, during the following days.
Call with the IOC
Peng also had a video call with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in which he reported that he was fine and that he was in Beijing, insisting once again that his privacy be respected.
