Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Photo / Photosport
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Photo / Photosport
Peng Shuai has denied making allegations of sexual assault against anyone as the Chinese tennis star appeared in a new video saying her social media post in November was misinterpreted.
Peng, a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion, took to Chinese social media site Weibo in early November to allege that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli — who is in his 70s — forced her into sex during an on-off relationship spanning several years.
Her message was quickly scrubbed from the Chinese web, but not before screenshots were posted on Twitter, sparking a worldwide outcry.
She was not heard from for weeks, sparking fears about her wellbeing and suggestions she was in danger. Photos and videos of her were then released by Chinese state media, but they were accused of being staged.
In a new video posted by Singapore media outlet Lianhe Zaobao, Peng says: "First, I need to stress one point that is extremely important, I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me.
Peng added her Weibo post was "private" and said "people have many misunderstandings" about it, but she did not elaborate on what those "misunderstandings" were.
Fresh unverified footage of Peng was also posted online by a Chinese state-affiliated journalist on Sunday as international concern persists for the 35-year-old.
Qingqing Chen, a reporter for the state-owned Global Times, tweeted a video of Peng appearing to speak with Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming.
Chen said the video was sent to her by a "friend" and that it was taken at an event to promote cross-country skiing in Shanghai. The seven-second clip shows the tennis player smiling and listening as Yao speaks.
Chen also posted a photo of Peng posing with Yao and two other Chinese sports figures — Olympic sailing champion Xu Lijia and retired table tennis player Wang Liqin.
The foursome were standing next to a banner for the "FIS Cross-Country Skiing China City Tour" with Shanghai's Yangpu bridge in the background.
The Shanghai stop of the cross-country ski tour took place on Saturday, according to the state-run CGTN news site.
Twitter is blocked in China and only people with a VPN-type workaround can access it. However, many Chinese diplomats and official state media have accounts to defend China's point of view.
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Photo / Photosport
Earlier this month the head of the women's professional tennis tour announced that all WTA tournaments there would be suspended because of concerns about Shuai's safety.
China is supposed to be the site of several tennis tournaments next year, including the prestigious season-ending WTA Finals, which are scheduled to be held there until 2030. The nation is a source of billions of dollars in income for various sports entities based elsewhere, from the WTA (whose headquarters are in St. Petersburg, Florida) to the NBA (run out of New York) and the International Olympic Committee (Lausanne, Switzerland).
Concerns about the censoring of her post and her subsequent disappearance from public view grew into a furore, turning #WhereIsPengShuai into a trending topic on social media and drawing support from tennis stars such as Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Martina Navratilova.
But news of the first #MeToo case to reach the political realm in China has not been reported by the domestic media and online discussion of it has been highly censored.
