The Women’s Tennis Association will resume tournaments in China in September after 16 months of suspended competitions following the “censorship” of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s sexual assault allegation against a former government official, the WTA announced Thursday.
The WTA said the decision to suspend events in China, including Hong Kong, “received much praise for our principled stand and believe we sent a powerful message to the world” but “praise alone is insufficient to bring about change” and “the situation has shown no sign of changing.”
“We have concluded we will never fully secure those goals and it will be our players and tournaments who ultimately will be paying an extraordinary price for their sacrifices,” the WTA said in a release.
On Nov. 2, 2021, Peng, a 37-year-old women’s doubles player and two-time Grand Slam champion, posted a lengthy social media message accusing retired Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of pressuring her into having sex with him despite her refusals three years prior. Peng also said that she had sex with Zhang seven years prior and developed feelings for him after that, per the Associated Press.
She has not been directly seen in public since an orchestrated appearances during the Beijing Olympics in February 2022….
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