Naomi Osaka says she's shocked that fellow tennis pro Peng Shuai has gone quiet since accusing a former Chinese government official of sexual assault.
Tennis star Naomi Osaka says she’s been shocked to hear about a fellow player who has gone quiet since making a sexual assault allegation against a former top government official in China.
Other leading players, including men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic, expressed alarm at the situation, and the organizers of the women’s and men’s professional tennis tours have called for a full investigation into the allegations made by the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion.Chinese authorities have squelched online discussion of sexual-assault allegations apparently made by a tennis star against a former senior official.
“Her accusation about the conduct of a former Chinese leader involving a sexual assault must be treated with the utmost seriousness.” Peng, 35, wrote that Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier and member of the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals following a round of tennis three years ago. She said Zhang’s wife guarded the door during the incident.As is usual for retired Chinese officials, the 75-year-old Zhang dropped from public sight after his retirement in 2018 and is not known to have any close connections to current leaders.
Her accusation was the first against a prominent government official since the #MeToo movement took hold in China in 2018 before being largely tamped down by authorities the same year.