Shuai says allegation was "enormous misunderstanding"

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has told a French newspaper that international concern over her well-being is based on “an enormous misunderstanding” and she denied having accused a high-ranking Chinese official of sexual assault.

The interview with L’Equipe was held under controlled conditions in Beijing and failed to answer some key questions about Peng's initial accusations of sexual assault and whether she has since been in trouble with China's authoritarian government.

L'Equipe, which specializes in sports news, published the interview Monday. The publication said it spoke to the tennis player a day earlier in a Beijing hotel in an hour-long interview organized through China’s Olympic committee.

Also Monday, the International Olympic Committee released a statement saying IOC President Thomas Bach had dinner with Peng on Saturday. That was the day after China's president opened the Winter Olympics in Beijing that have been overshadowed by international concerns about Chinese human rights abuses and Peng's situation. The IOC said Peng also attended the China-Norway Olympic curling match with IOC member Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe.

L'Equipe said it had to submit questions in advance and that a Chinese Olympic committee official sat in on the discussion and translated Peng's comments from Chinese.

The newspaper published her comments verbatim – which it said was another pre-condition for interview – in question-and-answer form. Photos of Peng during the interview showed her wearing a red track-suit top with “China” in Chinese characters on the front.

L’Equipe asked Peng about a post that appeared briefly in November on her verified account on a leading Chinese social media platform, Weibo, which