Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who went out of public view for weeks late last year after accusing a senior party member of sexual abuse, had never “disappeared” at all. That is what she says in an interview published on Sunday evening with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe. Peng disappeared from the radar at the end of last year after writing on the Chinese social medium Weibo that former Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli had forced her to have sex. On Monday, she again denies that she ever made those allegations. She would have removed the incriminating message herself shortly after publication.
Last November, 36-year-old Peng wrote on Weibo, China’s Twitter, “You took me to your house and forced me into relationships with you.” The tennis star addressed 75-year-old Zhang directly in her message: “I know that someone as distinguished as you, Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, will say that you are not afraid”. And yet, she wrote, she went on to tell “the truth” about him.
The news sparked international outrage and tennis association WTA decided to suspend all tournaments in China. This while the “media hype” according to Peng was based on “a big misunderstanding”, she says in the interview with L’Equipe. She would never have disappeared, but simply hadn’t been able to answer the large number of messages she received. Asked about the allegations against the former deputy prime minister, she says: “Adultery? I never said anyone sexually assaulted me.” The message would have been removed afterwards “because I wanted to”.
Point behind career
Reuters news agency asked International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach, who spoke with Peng last Saturday, to comment on the interview in L’Equipe. It is up to Peng to answer further questions on the matter, Bach said, adding that it is “her life.”
In the conversation with the French sports newspaper, Peng, the former number one in doubles, announces that she is ending her career. Due to a previous ankle injury and her age, it is unlikely that she will ever compete as a professional again, according to Peng.
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