Tennis/Peng Shuai case: "Immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China" (S. Simon, chairman)

"With the full support of the WTA board of directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong. In good conscience, I don't see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault," said Steve Simon, chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association on 01/12/2021.

Since IOC president Thomas Bach (GER) spoke with the Chinese tennis player on a video call on Sunday 21/11/2021, which Chinese journalists from state media relayed videos of in parallel, Peng Shuai has not been heard from. Shuai had accused a senior Chinese Communist Party official, former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault on 02/11/2021, and then temporarily disappeared.

"It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don't alleviate or address the WTA's concern about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion," said a spokesperson for the WTA, which organises the women's tennis professional…