'Huge misunderstanding': Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai repeats sexual assault denial

tennis star Peng Shuai said she never accused anyone of sexual assault, according to an interview published on Monday, again walking back an allegation that sparked worldwide concern about her safety. The former doubles world number one alleged in a social media post in November that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her into sex during a years-long relationship. The post was swiftly deleted and Peng was not heard from for nearly three weeks.

She has since emerged at some public events, denying in December that she ever made the accusation. "I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way," Peng told the French sports daily L'Equipe, reiterating a similar comment she gave to a Singaporean newspaper back in December. The 36-year-old added that she was the one who deleted her allegation from Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.

It was widely suspected that the country's strict internet censors, sensitive about any criticism of the ruling Communist Party, had removed it. When L'Equipe asked her why she deleted it, Peng said: "Because I wanted to." "There was a huge misunderstanding in the outside world following this post," she said during the interview in the Beijing Winter Olympics bubble. "I don't want the meaning of this post to be twisted anymore.

And I don't want any further media hype around it." Some of the world's biggest tennis stars, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic, spoke out about the Peng case. The United Nations and the White House also expressed concern. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) suspended its tournaments in China over the matter.