Published:
1 dic 2021 22:47 GMT
The president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA, for its acronym in English), Steve Simon, announced on Wednesday that the organization decided to suspend all tournaments in China, after Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai denounced sexual harassment by Zhan Gaoli , Deputy Prime Minister of the Asian country between 2013 and 2018, and the discussion about “this serious problem was censored” by Beijing.
“In good conscience, I do not see how I can ask our athletes to go compete there, when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has apparently been pressured to recant her accusation of sexual assault,” the statement reads.
Following the post in which she presented the allegations, Peng Shuai did not appear in public for nearly three weeks. On November 21, the editor-in-chief of the official Global Times newspaper, Hu Xijin, released a video of a sporting event in which the tennis player participated. On the same day, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, held a video call with the athlete and assured that she is safe.
