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Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai Denies She Made Accusation of Sexual Assault

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai mentioned on Sunday that she had by no means accused anybody of sexually assaulting her and {that a} social media publish she had made early final month had been misunderstood.

Peng’s well-being turned a matter of concern among the many international tennis group and rights teams when she appeared to allege {that a} former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her up to now. After that publish, she was absent from public view for practically three weeks.

“First, I have to stress one level that’s extraordinarily essential, I’ve by no means mentioned or written that anybody has sexually assaulted me, I’ve to obviously stress this level,” Peng said in the video posted by Lianhe Zaobao, a Singapore media outlet.

Peng’s remarks on Sunday marked the first time she had addressed the matter on camera in public. She spoke on the sidelines of a cross-country skiing event in Shanghai that she attended.

She said that her post on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media site, which had been quickly removed, was a “private matter”.

Peng, 35, mentioned within the video that “individuals have many misunderstandings” about her Weibo post. She did not elaborate.

She also said that she had been living at home in Beijing without supervision. She did not mention Zhang.

Reuters has been unable to reach Peng since her Weibo post.

The Women’s Tennis Association, which early this month said it would suspend tournaments in China immediately due to concerns over the treatment of Peng and the safety of other players, continued to call for an investigation.

“It was again good to see Peng Shuai in a public setting and we certainly hope she is doing well,” it mentioned in an announcement.

“As now we have persistently said, these appearances don’t alleviate or tackle the WTA’s vital considerations about her well-being and talent to speak without censorship or coercion,” the WTA said.

“We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.”

China has indirectly commented on Peng’s preliminary publish, however mentioned after the WTA’s transfer to droop tournaments in China that it “opposes the politicization of sports activities”.

Zhang has not commented on the matter.

Discussion of the scandal, which emerged as Beijing prepares to stage the Winter Olympics in February, has been heavily censored in China.

Peng said in the video posted on Sunday that she had personally written a letter last month to WTA head Steve Simon, in which she denied the allegation of assault, and that an English translation of it by Chinese state media was accurate.

Simon had said at the time that he “had a hard time believing” that Peng had really written the e-mail or believed what had been attributed to her.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has held two video calls with the 35-year-old Peng.

At the Shanghai occasion on Sunday, Peng appeared on a fifth ground viewing balcony with athletes from numerous sports activities, together with former NBA basketball star Yao Ming, and watched for about 20 minutes, in line with the Lianhe Zaobao report.

She wore a black jacket with a China flag and a crimson T-shirt with the characters for China.

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