“Pathetic”, “lack of courage”… The organizers of the Australian Open triggered the controversy asking fans on Sunday to remove their support shirt for Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, to which some militants promised to print them en masse.
“Where is Peng Shuai?” Neither on the tracks of the Australian Grand Slam nor in the stands, but on banners and t-shirts that appear in the hashtag that went viral a few months ago, after the disappearance of the Chinese champion after denouncing in November on her social networks that the former Chinese deputy prime minister Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex for a long time.
On Sunday, their fans were forced to withdraw them under the pretext that the Australian Open “does not authorize political clothing, flags or banners”, according to a spokesman for the Australian Tennis Federation.
She was quick to state that “Peng Shuai’s safety” was his “primary concern” and that he continued to “work with the WTA and the world tennis community to achieve greater clarity about his situation” and that he will do “everything possible to ensure his well-being”.
But the decision of Tennis Australia sparked outrage from several tennis personalities, which has led to the focus even more on those shirts.
Reactions to T-shirt ban in support of Peng Shuai
The American of Czech origin Martina Navratilova, tennis legend with her 18 Grand Slam titles (in singles), qualified in Twitter this “pathetic” decision.
“I consider it cowardly, it is not a political message, it is a message in favor of human rights,” he explained on the American television network Tennis Channel.
The body that governs the women’s tennis circuit he had canceled all his tournaments in China in December, demanding a transparent investigation into the accusations of alleged rape of the player.
Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, eliminated in the first round of the doubles tournament in Melbourne, also showed in Twitter his disagreement and indignation: “What lack of courage! What would it be if you didn’t have Chinese sponsors?
The weight of the sponsors?
The former world number 1 in doubles alluded to Luzhou Laojiao, marca china de alcohol, being one of the biggest sponsors of the Australian Open for several years.
Track N.2, one of the five largest in Melbourne, renamed ‘1573 Arena’ in honor of the year the Chinese company was created.
In response to the organizers’ ban, the Australian human rights activist Drew Pavlou managed to collect 14 thousand Australian dollars (more than 9 thousand euros) on the platform GoFundMe with the aim of printing the same shirts and distributing them to spectators before the women’s final.
“We print a thousand shirts and we will see how many spectators they can stop”, cried out Max Mok, a pro-Hong Kong activist, for ABC.
I spoke to Ten News alongside @maxmokchito today, sad to see Dan Andrews say nothing about this atrocious censorship. Max is right – it’s up to all of us to make sure Tennis Australia can’t sweep this under the carpet. See you on Saturday, it’s going to be open season! pic.twitter.com/j77HsXGdek
– Drew Pavlou For Senate (@DrewPavlou) January 24, 2022
Asked this Monday at a press conference, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that his country “was always against the politicization of sport”.
The case broke in early November, when Peng Shuai evoked in a message on the Chinese social network Weibor -later erased- a “forced” sexual encounter with former Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, married and forty years older than her.
The former doubles world number 1, who was not seen in public for several weeks, conducted an interview with the Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao.
But the WTA maintained its “concern” as well as “serious doubts” about the tennis player’s freedom of movement.
The Melbourne T-shirt case adds a new chapter to the Peng Shuai story.
ZZM
