WTA must stand firm on Peng and China, says human rights advocate

BENGALURU : The WTA should stick to its principles and not resume playing tournaments in China until the Peng Shuai issue has been resolved despite the financial impact of its stand, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch has urged.

The women's tour was widely praised for suspending its tournaments in the country after former doubles world number one Peng said in a now deleted 2021 social media post that a senior Chinese government official had sexually assaulted her.

The WTA was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, posting eight-figure losses in 2020 and 2021, and last week said it would soon announce whether or not it would return to a country in which it is heavily invested.

Reversing its decision without China meeting its request for a meeting with Peng would open the WTA up to accusations of putting profit before principles, said Yaqiu Wang of Human Rights Watch.

"I have tremendous sympathy for the WTA because I know it's losing a lot of money but I have to say it got so much praise for standing up for the values it believes in contrary to a lot of other businesses," Wang told Reuters in a Zoom interview from New York.

"At the time it happened, I felt very inspired and I really hope it (WTA) can stick to what it said. I understand it's a lot of money but human rights are more important.

"Honestly, it should care for its own players."

WTA EXPANSION

China was central to the WTA's aggressive expansion into Asia and in 2008, just before the Beijing Olympics, it opened an Asia-Pacific headquarters in the capital.

The country was staging two WTA events in 2008 but that grew to nine with a total prize purse of $30.4 million in 2019, its last full year of operations in the country.

That included a staggering $14 million on