Tennis | The Australian Open still allows “Where’s Peng Shuai?” shirts

Tennis season Australian Open organizers of first grand slam tournament seized t-shirts from fans over the weekend Peng Shuai? ” referring to the worrying situation of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai in recent months.

Peng Shuai, 36, the world’s former number one player in the doubles, disappeared in early November after he had accused the former Chinese prime minister of coercing into a sexual act.

Peng was finally only heard from nearly three weeks later, and there are still concerns about whether Peng is indeed free.

Other including a tennis legend Martina Navratilova deplored the activities of the organizers and described it as “pathetic”. The organizers justified the action with a ban on political messages.

On Tuesday, the tournament director Craig Tiley however, said “Where is Peng Shuai?” shirts are allowed if their wearers are “calm”.

“Yes, as long as people don’t arrive in a crowd to cause a disturbance, they’re calm,” Tiley said.

“There has been a little misunderstanding here. The situation (over the weekend) was such that some people had a sheet attached (containing a message) attached between two large poles, and we cannot allow that. If you come to watch tennis, that’s good, but you can’t disturb it. ”

Benches human rights activist Drew Pavlou welcomed Tiley’s concession. Activists plan to produce more t-shirts with Peng printing and distribute them for free.

“Hopefully people in China will see thousands of people wearing those Peng Shuai shirts in the Australian Open finals. And they know he’s still not safe, ”Pavlou said.

“And they (in China) also know that people around the world still support Peng Shua.”

Also There was a comment from the Australian government. Minister of Defense Peter Dutton urged to talk about human rights issues.

“We don’t want to drag sports into politics, but this is not a political thing. This is a human rights issue regarding the treatment of a young woman who has reported sexual coercion. ”