Tennis Stars Converse Out On China
Amid rising worldwide consideration on her plight, Chinese language state media on Thursday abruptly released an email it stated Peng had written to Girls’s Tennis Affiliation Chair Steve Simon.
The letter, the authenticity of which couldn’t be verified, claimed Peng was resting at residence and had by no means licensed for the unique “not true” assertion to be posted on Weibo.
However in a statement on Thursday, Simon stated the purported Peng letter solely made him extra fearful for her security.
“I’ve a tough time believing that Peng Shuai truly wrote the e-mail we obtained or believes what’s being attributed to her,” he stated.
He known as for “impartial and verifiable proof” of her security and a full investigation into her claims.
“Peng Shuai have to be allowed to talk freely, with out coercion or intimidation from any supply,” Simon stated. “Her allegation of sexual assault have to be revered, investigated with full transparency and with out censorship.”
Simon told CNN the WTA was ready to now not do enterprise with China, and thus lose out on tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in income, if Peng was not accounted for.
“That is larger than the enterprise,” he stated.
A spokesperson for the Girls’s Sports activities Basis, a US nonprofit based in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King, instructed BuzzFeed Information they supported the WTA’s place.
“We’re deeply involved and troubled by the disappearance of Peng Shuai and her allegation of sexual assault,” the spokesperson stated. “We help the WTA’s calls for for verifiable proof of her security and that her allegations be revered and investigated with full transparency.”
However the letter was apparently sufficient for the Worldwide Olympic Committee, which has been principally quiet on the disappearance of a three-time Olympian.
“We’ve seen the most recent reviews and are inspired by assurances that she is secure,” an IOC spokesperson stated Thursday.
That tepid assertion was criticized as feckless by broad swaths of the Western media and nongovernmental organizations.
