Peng Shuai says Weibo post sparked ‘enormous misunderstanding’

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has given her first interview to an independent media organisation since she alleged on Weibo that a senior Chinese official had coerced her into sex, saying it was an “enormous misunderstanding”.

The interview with French sports daily L’Équipe came as the International Olympic Committee said it wasn’t up to them or anyone else “to judge, in one way or another, her position”.

Peng disappeared from public life after the Weibo post in November, sparking a major international campaign calling for confirmation from the Chinese authorities that she was safe and well.

Speaking to L’Équipe in Beijing, Peng said her original statement had been misunderstood. She said she had never accused former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault and denied she had disappeared from public view afterwards.

The tennis star was accompanied to the interview by the Chinese Olympic Committee’s chief of staff who also acted as translator, the report said. L’Équipe was also required to submit questions in advance and publish her comments verbatim in question-and-answer form, as preconditions for the interview.

Peng thanked everyone for caring about her wellbeing, but also questioned why it had been “exaggerated”.

“I didn’t think there would be such concern and I would like to know: why such concern?” she said.

Peng said there had been a “enormous misunderstanding” over her post, which she confirmed she deleted herself a little under 30 minutes after publishing it because she “wanted to”. She did not give further details.

In early November Peng posted an essay to Weibo, describing an on-again-off-again consensual affair with the then 75-year-old, and an incident in which he allegedly pressured her into having sex