
A Chinese diplomat has questioned the sexual abuse allegations apparently made by Peng Shuai last year, saying that the tennis star is too physically strong to have been assaulted.
Peng wrote in a social media that she had been the victim of sexual assault by Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking figure in the Chinese political hierarchy. The message, which appeared on the Chinese social network Weibo, was deleted around an hour after it was posted.
Peng subsequently appeared to withdraw from public life prompting concerns for her safety, but was seen weeks later in what some claim to have been a hastily choreographed video call with IOC president Thomas Bach in which Peng allayed concerns for her safety.
However according to Victor Gao, the vice president of the Center for China and Globalization, Peng would have been able to fight off any attacker due to her athletic ability and strength.
"She is a very successful athlete and physically she can handle many things better than many other women in China," Gao told 60 Minutes Australia.
"Given her maturity of the mind and the maturity of her physical condition, she can take care of herself, and she can defend herself in front of whatever man or persons in China."
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Peng, meanwhile, has continued to distance herself from the allegations, denying that she had made the assault claims and saying the situation had been "twisted." Gao reiterated his belief that the tennis player had not been assaulted by Zhang, who is now 75 years old.
"Physically she is very strong, she is a very tall person… she is taller than I am," Gao added. "So for a person my height… trying to take advantage of Peng Shuai, forget about it. You're indulging your fantasy.
"The incident reported on the internet didn't happen just one week ago or one year ago, it happened several years ago. Throughout this period of time she was a free person, there was no sign of her being harassed."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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