Another video of tennis player Peng Shuai surfaced

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Peng Shuai at a tennis tournament in China

Photo: STR / AFP

Tennis star Peng Shuai accused a top Chinese politician of sexual assault in early November.

Since then, the Chinese woman has not been seen in public, and international protests have been loud.

China's state media have now circulated a new video allegedly showing the tennis player who is believed to have disappeared.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state newspaper "Global Times", published a short clip on Twitter that is supposed to show Peng Shuai at the opening of a youth tennis tournament in Beijing on Sunday.

You can see how she and other guests are called by name and greeted with applause from the audience.

She waves and smiles briefly, but does not speak up herself.

On Friday evening, the Chinese state television reportedly distributed current photos of the tennis star on Twitter.

On Saturday, a video was distributed - also via Twitter - that Peng Shuai is supposed to show while having dinner with friends in a Beijing restaurant.

On November 2, Peng filed allegations of abuse against former Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli on the Weibo social network.

The entry was quickly deleted, the former double world number one and double winner at Wimbledon and at the French Open has not been seen in public since then.

"Unclear whether it is free"

"This video alone is not enough," Steve Simon, head of the international women's tennis organization WTA, commented on the restaurant clip.

"While it is positive to see her, it remains unclear whether she is free and can make her own decisions." It is not clear whether she can act without coercion.

He continues to worry about their health and safety and that their sexual assault allegations are obviously being censored, Simon said.

Because of the affair, the WTA threatens to withdraw the tennis tour completely from China.

In the past few days, worldwide clarification has been demanded in the case of the former number one in the double world rankings.

Even the White House under US President Joe Biden expressed "deeply concerned".

mrc / dpa