Shanghai china /
The Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, denied having accused someone of sexual abuse, in her first statements to the press since she publicly revealed that a senior Communist Party official forced her to have sex.
I did not accuse anyone of sexual abuse: Peng Shuai
The complaint made in November on social media was quickly censored in China and aroused international consternation, with expressions of concern from the UN and world tennis stars. But speaking to Liane Zaobao, a Chinese-language Singapore daily, the Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion denied having made the complaint.
“I want to highlight a very important point: I never said or wrote anything accusing someone of sexually assaulting me. I would like to emphasize this point very clearly, “said Peng, 35, in footage apparently recorded with a mobile phone at a sporting event in Shanghai.
Peng posted on the Weibo platform, the Chinese version of Twitter, that the former Deputy Prime Minister, Zhang Gaoli, forced her to have sex in an intermittent relationship of several years. The message was quickly deleted from the Chinese network, but screenshots were uploaded on Twitter and generated worldwide reactions.
Peng Shuai claims ‘there are misunderstandings’
In Zaobao’s video, when asked about the message on Weibo, Peng replied that it was a “private matter” about which there are “many misunderstandings”, without going into details.
Previously, Chinese state press published images of Peng, including some of her at a tennis tournament. She also posted a screenshot of an email that she wrote to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) saying “everything is fine”, but that did not ease concerns about the athlete.
WTA President Steve Simon said he has “hard to believe” Peng’s email and questioned whether she is free to speak openly. The WTA called for Peng’s allegations to be fully investigated and suspended all of its tournaments in China and Hong Kong.
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