Amidst the worrying disappearing and suspicious reappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has announced the suspension of all tennis tournaments in the People's Republic of China on Thursday, 2 December.
“With the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong,” said WTA Chairperson Steve Simon in a statement posted on their social media handles.
Simon's statement further said that "while we now know where Peng is, I have serious doubts that she is free, safe, and not subject to censorship, coercion, and intimidation."
Novak Djokovic, considered to be one the best players of this generation and the current world number 1 in the men's ATP rankings, and the cofounder of the Professional Tennis Players Association, said he fully backed the WTA’s move.
"We don’t have enough information and I think it’s a very bold, very courageous stance from WTA," The Guardian quoted him as saying.
Billie Jean King, an American former world No 1, who won 39 Grand Slam titles said that she applauded "Steve Simon and the WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China and around the world."
Hu Xijin, who is the editor of a major newspaper backed by the Chinese Communist Party, had on 20 November tweeted a suspicious video of Peng eating in a restaurant after she went missing following her revelations of sexual abuse by a senior CCP member.
Then, the China Global Television Network tweeted a screenshot of an email sent by Peng to Simon, which it claimed to be proof of her safety and denied reports about the allegations she had made.
Additionally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had tweeted about a video call with Peng on 21 November to assure the world of her safety.
It had the opposite effect.
Cries for information about Peng's safety in China grew louder, including voices of major tennis stars like Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray among others, Reuters reported.
Industry analysts have said that the WTA's announcement would bring huge financial losses, with Mark Thomas, who is the managing director of a China-focused sports consultancy firm, confirming that "it’ll be a massive hit to the WTA financially by pulling out of China."
(With inputs from Reuters and The Guardian.)
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