Amid rising worldwide consideration on her plight, Chinese language state media on Thursday instantly launched an electronic mail it stated Peng had written to Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation Chair Steve Simon.
The letter, the authenticity of which couldn’t be verified, claimed Peng was resting at residence and had by no means approved for the unique “not true” assertion to be posted on Weibo.
However in a assertion on Thursday, Simon stated the purported Peng letter solely made him extra fearful for her security.
“I’ve a tough time believing that Peng Shuai really wrote the e-mail we acquired or believes what’s being attributed to her,” he stated.
He referred to as for “impartial and verifiable proof” of her security and a full investigation into her claims.
“Peng Shuai have to be allowed to talk freely, with out coercion or intimidation from any supply,” Simon stated. “Her allegation of sexual assault have to be revered, investigated with full transparency and with out censorship.”
Simon instructed CNN the WTA was ready to now not do enterprise with China, and thus lose out on lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in income, if Peng was not accounted for.
“That is larger than the enterprise,” he stated.
A spokesperson for the Ladies’s Sports activities Basis, a US nonprofit based in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King, instructed BuzzFeed Information they supported the WTA’s place.
“We’re deeply involved and troubled by the disappearance of Peng Shuai and her allegation of sexual assault,” the spokesperson stated. “We help the WTA’s calls for for verifiable proof of her security and that her allegations be revered and investigated with full transparency.”
However the letter was apparently sufficient for the Worldwide Olympic Committee, which has been largely quiet on the disappearance of a three-time Olympian.
“Now we have seen the most recent experiences and are inspired by assurances that she is protected,” an IOC spokesperson stated Thursday.
That tepid assertion was criticized as feckless by broad swaths of the Western media and nongovernmental organizations.
