IOC says it talked to China's Peng Shuai last week

ATHENS : The International Olympic Committee talked with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai last week and will meet her in Beijing during next month's winter Olympics, it said on Wednesday.

Peng's situation became a matter of concern in November when the former women's number one doubles player alleged that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past. After that post, she was absent from public view for nearly three weeks.

"Since the first call that the IOC held with Peng Shuai on 21 November 2021, the IOC team has kept in touch with her and had a number of conversations with her – the last one just the past week," an IOC spokesperson said.

Last month Peng said she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her, and that a social media post she had made had been misunderstood. Zhang has not commented on the matter.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Alison Williams)