(Bloomberg) — The Women’s Tennis Association has said it wants to speak privately with tennis player Peng Shuai after she gave an interview to a French news outlet that was overseen by a Chinese sports official.
WTA Chairman Steve Simon said in a statement that the “in-person interview does not alleviate any of our concerns about her initial post,” which detailed a rocky affair with a retired Chinese official. He called for “an opportunity for the WTA to meet with Peng — privately — to discuss her situation,” and reiterated the organization wants China to investigate her situation.
Peng was in the stands with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday at the women’s big air competition, the Associated Press reported. Eileen Gu, an 18-year-old who was born and raised in the U.S. and decided to compete for China, won her first ever Olympic gold medal.
When asked about Peng at a press conference later, Gu said she was grateful the tennis player was “happy and healthy.”
Peng told the sports daily L’Equipe over the weekend that her November post about Zhang Gaoli had caused a “huge misunderstanding” and that she didn’t disappear after writing it. Peng was accompanied to the interview in a Beijing hotel by a person the news outlet identified as Chinese Olympic Committee chief of staff Wang Kan. The tennis player also said she had a “nice discussion” with Bach on the sidelines of the games on Saturday.
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Peng vanished from public view after posting the 1,500-character essay on social media alleging an affair with Zhang — once the ruling Communist Party’s No. 7 official — that raised concern she was coerced into sex. Worries about her safety and freedom of movement grew when the post was removed from the internet and state media published an email allegedly sent by Peng assuring everyone she was fine.
The episode highlighted international concern about China’s human rights practices just months before it was set to host the Winter Olympics. The U.S. is leading a diplomatic boycott of the games, citing “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses,” — allegations that China denies.
Late last month, Zhang was mentioned in Chinese state media for the first time since Peng’s essay appeared online. He was included in a long list of former party officials who received Lunar New Year wishes from President Xi Jinping and other state leaders by phone, according to CCTV.
(Updates with Peng Shuai attending Olympic event.)
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