Steve Simon, President of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), announced that the organization will temporarily withdraw from tournaments in China and Hong Kong. The message is available on the association’s website.
Simon said the decision was related to the case of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who made allegations of sexual harassment against a local politician, but then withdrew them. “If powerful people can suppress women’s voices and sweep allegations of sexual assault under the rug, then the WTA’s foundation of equality for women will suffer. I cannot allow this to happen with the WTA, ”he said.
The sex scandal erupted on November 3. Then Shuai brought charges against the former Vice Premier of China Zhang Gaoli, claiming that he forced her to have sexual intercourse ten years ago. After that, she stopped communicating. On November 18, a letter allegedly written by Shuai appeared on the Chinese state news channel CGTN, in which she denied reports of her disappearance and asked WTA not to release news again without her consent.
The 35-year-old Chinese woman retired in 2018. She is a two-time doubles Grand Slam winner. The tennis player also has two gold medals at the Asian Games.
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