Professional tennis players – and athletes from other sports – continue to demand more information on Chinese player Peng Shuai and her wellbeing.
Peng essentially went missing several months ago after she took to a social media platform to accuse a former Chinese government minister of sexually assaulting her.
It’s been a truly bizarre saga since then, with organisations from China claiming the veteran doubles champion is fine, but many refusing to believe that claim.
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Peng, who won Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, denied making the assault allegation to a Singapore newspaper on the same day photos of her with retired Chinese basketball star Yao Ming and two former Olympians were posted on social media.
The photos appeared to be part of a campaign to respond to international demands that Peng be allowed to talk freely about her situation.
Yao said that he has known Peng for about 20 years. The four Chinese sports figures were photographed on an observation deck from where they watched a winter sports exhibition.
“We had a pleasant chat,” Yao said. “We asked many questions about the game as we were not familiar with snow sports.”
At one point, it was unclear if he said Peng was OK. Some, including the translator for the news conference, heard him say “she was fine that day,” but others thought Yao said “we were all fine that day”.
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The International Olympic Committee, which has been pressured to move the Games from China because of human rights concerns, came under further fire after IOC President Thomas Bach held a video call with Peng. An IOC statement said that she assured Bach and others that she was well.
At the Australian Open, Aussie star Nick Kyrgios voiced his doubts over the Peng situation.
“Something’s obviously not right there,” Kyrgios said.
“Obviously if that’s still something that’s ongoing it needs to be found out and… we need more awareness about it. We can’t forget about her.
“We have to use our platforms as athletes. I think we’re obligated to do that, we’re obligated to speak up and get to the root of what’s happening and why it’s happening.”
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is on the Women’s Tennis Association council, which has been trying desperately to contact Peng directly.
“There hasn’t been that much development in terms of contact with Peng Shuai even though from our side we will continue to make any and all efforts to make sure that she is safe, she feels comfortable,” Azarenka told media today.
“Hopefully we will get to hear from her personally at some point. I think that’s the goal, the main goal right now.
“As an association, women’s association, I am proud that we are supporting our players. I think that kind of should go without saying. The situation is really unfortunate. We all hope for the best. We will see what happens in terms of logistics.”