Chinese Tennis star Peng Shuai on Sunday said that she had never made allegations of sexual assault against anyone and that her social media post from earlier last month was misunderstood. This is also the first time she addressed the incident on camera publicly and the remarks were made in the video that was shared by a Singapore media outlet. The Chinese tennis player had reportedly been absent from public view after the post had surfaced up. The player's absence led to a wave of concern amid the global tennis community which demanded China confirm the player's safety. Later in November, Pen Shuai showed up in public and the Chinese state-run media had shared a video of her public appearance to ensure the public about her safety and well-being.
Key Points:
1. "First, I need to stress one point that is extremely important, I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me, I have to clearly stress this point," said Peng Shuai in the video posted by Lianhe Zaobao, a Singapore media.
2. Peng Shuai said that she has never been sexually assaulted by anyone and that the social media post was a misunderstanding. She also said that the Weibo post she had deleted right after posting was a 'private matter but the 35-year-old did not give details on the matter.
3. “Regarding Weibo, first of all, it’s a matter related to my personal privacy. Everyone has had many misunderstandings. Their misreadings do not stand,” said Peng. She also revealed that she was staying at her home in Beijing and that there was no official supervision.
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4. Peng also disclosed that she had sent an e-mail to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) head Steve Simon in November which had clearly said that she was safe was legitimate.
5. The Chinese tennis player's well-being and safety were a huge matter of concern in the global tennis community when she had reportedly gone missing after the social media post that had accused a former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. The post was quickly deleted after posting but it was already captured and later spread like wildfire on social media.
6. "It was again good to see Peng Shuai in a public setting and we certainly hope she is doing well," the Florida-based WTA said in a statement.
7. "As we have consistently stated, these appearances do not alleviate or address the WTA’s significant concerns about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion," they added.
8. WTA has also said that they remain steadfast in their call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into the matter of sexual assault allegation which gives rise to the association's concern.
9. However, the Chinese government is yet to comment on Peng Shuai's post but China has said that it "opposes the politicization of sports" after the WTA had suspended tournaments in China.
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10. On November 21, Peng had made her first public appearance after almost three weeks of her disappearance since she had posted on Weibo. Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of state-run newspaper Global Times had released footage of Peng on Twitter which showed her attending her fans on the tennis court. The tennis star had a video call with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and they spoke for 30 minutes wherein Peng also said she was safe.
