Tennis player Peng Shuai, who previously accused former Chinese First Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault, said she had never been a victim of rape. According to the BBC, the former first racket of the world in doubles told Lianhe Zaobao about this.
“I never said or wrote that someone raped me. I need to emphasize this point very clearly, ”said Peng Shuai.
The newspaper said it interviewed the tennis player in Shanghai at an event ahead of the Beijing Olympics, where she attended alongside former NBA star Yao Ming and other Chinese sports personalities.
WTA suspends tournaments in China over tennis player scandal Tennis
The New York Times reported on November 3 that Peng Shuai had accused Zhang Gaoli of sexually assaulting Zhang Gaoli on her Weibo page. The post was soon deleted, but Peng Shuai's statement spread online.
As a result, a search for her name and the word "tennis" was blocked in China. According to The Washington Post, the day after the accusation, it was impossible to post on Weibo with the names Peng Shuai and Zhang Gaoli without even referring to the accusations: a warning was issued that the post violated "applicable laws and regulations." Comments have been disabled on Peng's page, Bloomberg noted.
Peng Shuai admitted that she could not provide evidence. She said that the official first attacked her more than ten years ago, while he was on the Chinese Communist Party committee in Tianjin (from 2007 to 2012). After that, they did not see each other for a long time.
The head of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), Steve Simon, threatened China with canceling the tournaments on November 19, after which the Chinese woman appeared in public. On November 21, a video of her attending the opening ceremony of the teenage tennis final was posted on Twitter by Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Chinese state newspaper Global Times.
After that, the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, talked with Peng Shuai via video link.
However, the WTA announced the suspension of all tournaments in China on December 1.
Peng Shuai is the former world number one in doubles rankings. In total, she won 25 WTA events (two of them in singles). In 2013, Peng Shuai won Wimbledon, and in 2014 - Roland Garros in doubles.
Zhang Gaoli turned 75 on November 1. He was the first vice premier of China from 2013-2018, before that he held various positions in the Chinese Communist Party. In 2017, for his great contribution to strengthening cooperation with Russia, he was awarded the Order of Friendship by then Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to China.
bbabo.Net