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Chinese language tennis star Peng Shuai mentioned she by no means accused anybody of sexual assault and introduced her retirement from the game throughout an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe on Monday.
Final November, Peng appeared to accuse a former Chinese language vice premier of sexual assault in a put up on Chinese language social media platform Weibo. The put up was rapidly deleted.
Peng, who disappeared from public view for round three weeks after that, launched a press release in December, saying there had been a “misunderstanding” with regard to the put up, and making clear she did not accuse anybody of sexual misconduct then too.
However the sporting and worldwide neighborhood remained fearful about her security and talent to freely communicate her thoughts. Peng has not up to date her profile on Weibo for the reason that put up was eliminated, and searches on the platform with regard to her title additionally present no current outcomes.
Tennis followers put on ‘The place is Peng Shuai’ T-shirts on the Australian Open in January
Peng denies assault claims, says she by no means “disappeared”
Peng instructed the newspaper throughout the interview: “I by no means mentioned anybody had sexually assaulted me in any manner.”
She mentioned she deleted the social media put up herself as a result of she “needed to” and she or he by no means disappeared from the general public.
“I by no means disappeared. It is simply that many individuals, like my associates or individuals from the IOC (Worldwide Olympic Committee) messaged me, and it was merely not possible to reply so many messages,” Shuai mentioned.
“However I’ve all the time been in shut contact with my shut associates. I discuss to them, I answered their emails, I additionally talked with the WTA,” Shuai defined, referring to the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation.
The WTA mentioned in December, after Peng launched her assertion, that there have been “vital considerations” about her well-being and talent to speak freely. They’ve since suspended tournaments in China over fears for Peng’s security.
‘Pressured confession’
Chinese language human rights lawyer Teng Biao instructed DW that he believes Peng’s feedback have been a part of a “pressured confession.”
“Some human rights activists, human rights attorneys, or overseas nationals have been pressured to make televised confessions in China previously,” he mentioned.
“They might be pressured to say what the Chinese language authorities instructed them to say beneath nice strain. That is definitely the case with Peng,” Teng added.
The human rights lawyer identified that “Peng has been accompanied by others throughout her previous couple of public appearances and the knowledge was typically launched by China’s state media,” including that her public look “was all organized.”
Peng meets IOC president
Peng mentioned she met Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach for dinner on Saturday contained in the Winter Olympics bubble in Beijing.
Bach beforehand held a video convention with Peng on November 21 however that led to accusations that he was making an attempt to guard the hosts of the 2022 Winter Video games.
“He requested me whether or not I’m contemplating competing once more, what my tasks are, what I am planning on doing, and so forth,” Peng mentioned.
Peng, who was accompanied by Chinese language Olympic Committee Chief of Employees Wang Kan throughout the course of the interview at a resort contained in the Winter Olympics bubble, instructed the newspaper she was retiring from tennis.
Human rights lawyer Teng Biao additionally mentioned that the “[IOC] and its President Bach have been serving to to advertise the Chinese language authorities’s propaganda in Peng Shuai’s case.”
“It’s shameful for the IOC to place its personal pursuits forward of the essential human rights of athletes,” he instructed DW.
The IOC mentioned Peng would attend a number of occasions on the Winter Video games in a press release on Monday. She additionally plans to journey to Europe and the IOC headquarters in Switzerland after the pandemic, the assertion added.
Extra reporting by William Yang in Taipei
ab, rm/aw (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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