Chinese Tennis Federation criticizes cancellation of women’s tournaments based on ‘fake information’
The Chinese Tennis Federation has expressed its “dismay” after the World Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) suspended tournaments in the Asian country due to suspicions surrounding tennis player Peng Shuai, according to Global Times Social Networks. The post, via Twitter and Facebook, cited the blocking of social networks in China, and the Chinese Association, which criticized the WTA’s decision, for being “based on fake information”, “affecting the athlete concerned” and the local “opportunities for competition”. athletes.
The statement does not appear on the official portal of the association. All information about the case of Peng, who has accused a former senior cadre of the Chinese Communist Party of sexual assault, has been blocked on social media and the official press in China. “China opposes the politicization of sports,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. Zhao Lijian, another Chinese diplomatic spokesman, stressed that the tennis player had recently “appeared” at some public events and that her case should not be “politicised”.
The WTA has officially suspended its planned circuit tournaments for China, following the case of the 35-year-old, who revealed in early November that she had been sexually assaulted by former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, in a post that was promptly removed from Chinese social network Weibo. .
According to Steve Simon, president of the WTA, all tournaments held by the association in China, including in the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong, have been suspended. “I don’t see how our athletes can compete [na China]As long as Peng cannot communicate freely and is pressured to contradict the allegations of sexual abuse.”
On November 2, Bing revealed that she had been in an on-off love affair with Zhang for years, which she accused of sexual assault the first time they were together. Despite the tennis player reappearing on the 21st, in a restaurant in Beijing and at a tennis tournament in the Chinese capital, and having already spoken, by video, with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, the WTA raises doubts about the freedom of the athlete.
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