Tennis player Peng Shuai now denies she has accused a senior Chinese official of rape

Tennis player Peng Shuai in Beijing during a match in 2016 DAMIR SAGOLJ (REUTERS)

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has stated that "she has never accused anyone of sexual abuse" and that her publication on the social network Weibo on November 2 was a "private matter" about which people have made a "misunderstanding", according to a video published last night by the Singaporean newspaper

. The tennis player was in Shanghai participating in an event along with other Chinese sports stars, such as former basketball player Yao Ming, when she made these statements.

However, in the statement that Peng Shuai published in November on Weibo, a network similar to Twitter, it revealed that for years he had an intermittent love affair with former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, whom he accused of having sexually abused her in a chance.

The debate about Peng and Zhang's relationship was quickly censored on Chinese social media, and the original post (which read "that afternoon I did not consent and cried all the time") was voided.

In the video published now, the athlete is surprised when the reporter asks her if she has been in her home in Beijing “freely” and without surveillance, to which she responds: “Why should someone be watching me?

I have been at home in freedom ”.

The athlete, former world number one in the doubles category, also confirmed the authorship of a letter from her addressed to the president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), Steve Simon, and which was picked up by state television CGTN in mid-November: “I wrote the Chinese version and since my level of English is not very good, CGTN published a translated version with the same meaning as the original,” he explained.

In the letter, Peng claimed "to be well and resting", and denied being missing and the allegations of sexual abuse, which increased concern about the Chinese player, of which images and videos were distributed, once again through the media. and journalists close to the Government, in subsequent days.

In addition, Peng had a video call with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in which he reported that he was well and that he was in Beijing, insisting once again that his privacy be respected.

However, the WTA decided on December 1 to suspend the tournaments it holds in China due to the censorship and uncertainties that have surrounded the case.

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