To support Peng Shuai, the WTA suspends the women’s tournaments planned in China – Liberation

The Chinese player had disappeared after accusing a former leader of the Chinese regime of sexual abuse, provoking an unprecedented wave of mobilization in the world of tennis.

They block. “Whatever the financial consequences”, the WTA announced on Wednesday the suspension of women’s tennis tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, in support of player Peng Shuai who accused a former top Chinese communist leader of sexual abuse. In the process, the measure was hailed by several champions of the discipline, including Billie Jean King, 12 times Grand Slam champion in singles, and Novak Djokovic.

No WTA tournaments were scheduled before the end of the year and the 2022 schedule has not yet been released. During the 2019 season, the last not to have been impacted by the Covid-19, 10 tournaments had been organized in China, including the Women’s Masters at the end of the year which, with 14 million dollars, had been better endowed financially. than their male counterparts.

“None of this is acceptable and never will be. If the powerful can suppress women’s voices and sweep accusations of sexual abuse under the rug, then the foundations on which the WTA stands – equality for women – would be badly shaken. I can’t let that happen to the players and I won’t let it.”insists Steve Simon, the president of the WTA, in a particularly virulent press release.

Steve Simon called thes “world leaders” to follow him. “In good conscience, I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to participate in tournaments there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has apparently been pressured to go back on his allegations of sexual abuse”Write the.

He added to be “very worried about the risks that all our players and staff would take if we organized tournaments in China in 2022 […] The leaders of China left no choice to the WTA”. Steve Simon does not stop at this strong decision: he calls for a mobilization against China: “The WTA will do everything possible to protect its players,” Simon said. I hope world leaders will continue to come forward to bring justice to Peng and all women, regardless of the financial consequences.”

“Even though we now know where Peng is, I have serious doubts that she be free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion or intimidation. “he added.

Tennis world number 1 Novak Djokovic, still in the Davis Cup race, gave his full support there from Madrid on Wednesday evening. “I fully support the WTA’s position because we don’t have enough information about Shuai Peng”, he said. Among the first to react to this decision of the president of the WTA, the Czech Petra Kvitova had tweeted a applauding emoji, while the French Alizé Cornet wrote “What a leader!”. Ex-world number 1 Andy Roddick underlined the risk taken by the WTA boss: “Doing well is much easier when it costs nothing. Respect.”

Peng Shuai, 35, disappeared days in November after posting a lengthy message on Chinese social media Weibo accusing former Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, 40 years her senior and since retired, of sexually abused her before making her his mistress.

Many world tennis stars, from Chris Evert to Djokovic already, and several Western countries, notably France and the United States, but also the European Union and the UN, have asked Beijing to clarify the fate of Peng Shuai. . The young woman reappeared on November 21 in a restaurant in Beijing and during a tennis tournament organized in the Chinese capital, according to videos published by official media.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its part announced on Thursday that it had met again on Wednesday with Peng Shuai, ten days after the first interview. Unlike that last exchange, this time it’s “an IOC team” and no longer just the patron of Olympism, Thomas Bach, who led the videoconference “half an hour”, said the Olympic body. The player “appeared to be safe and doing well, given the difficult situation she is in.” But as in its previous statements on the subject, the IOC did not mention the accusations of sexual assault made by Peng Shuai against a former senior Chinese leader, nor did he demand a guarantee of full freedom of movement. of the player. Perceived as a desire to spare the host of the next Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20), the IOC’s discretion contrasts sharply with the WTA’s position.

“Chinese leaders have had opportunities to lift censorship, to provide verifiable evidence that Peng was free and able to speak without outside interference or intimidation, and to conduct a full, fair and transparent investigation into his accusations of sexual abuse”recalls the president of the WTA, Steve Simon, deploring that Beijing has not “acted credibly”.

Beijing’s only official reaction to date has been a November 23 appeal by Chinese diplomatic spokesman Zhao Lijian to “stop deliberately escalating this issue for hostile purposes, and above all making it a political issue”.

Update : added this Thursday at 12 p.m. with the new videoconference between Peng Shuai and the IOC.