IOC member Pound calls WTA's stance on Peng Shuai as 'their choice' while defending the IOC's handling of the case

Long-time International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said his organization would continue to support Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai despite heavy criticism about how they handled the situation.

The vast majority of people familiar with the Peng Shuai case have heavily criticized the organization for the way they handled the sexual assault allegations and everything that transpired after that. Pound dismissed criticism of the IOC’s role in the case of Peng.

He said:

"We’ve established the contact. We’ve made sure that she’s healthy. We’ve given her a chance to react with the world. We will support whatever she wants the Olympic movement to do in her situation, and that is not entirely clear at the moment.”

Pound was asked by the WTA's stance as well and he explained that he did not understand why they weren't satisfied with what was presented. He expressed that their position is 'their choice'. He also said:

“What we have to be focused on is let’s not get hijacked by other agendas -- meaningful as they may be. They’re not our agendas. They are not things that we can control.”