WTA unconvinced as Peng Shuai denies sexual assault allegations

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has denied making sexual assault accusations in her first media interview since alleging that a top Chinese official - Zhang Gaoli - had coerced her into having sex with him at his home.

The Olympian and former women's doubles number one disappeared from the public eye after making the sexual assault allegations, which sparked concern from the international sports fraternity. She has now dispelled concerns with a statement, but the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) still remain unconvinced about her safety and ability to communicate without censorship.

"I have never said or written that anyone sexually assaulted me. This point must be emphasised very clearly," Shuai said in a video interview with Lianhe Zaobao, a Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper, as quoted by the BBC.

The WTA star also insisted that she remained free with the freedom to move around at her own volition, stating: "Why would anyone monitor [me?] [I have] always been very free."

The interview was carried out along the sidelines of a sporting event in Shanghai, where Shuai was pictured alongside Chinese basketball great Yao Ming and Olympic sailing champion Xu Lijia. Despite the visual proof of her well being, the WTA remain skeptical and again asked for a transparent investigation into the sexual assault allegations.

"We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation... into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern," the WTA said.

On Nov 2, Shuai posted a lengthy statement on Chinese social media platform Weibo alleging sexualt assault by former Vice Premier Gaoli. The note was addressed to the Chinese government official, where the two-time women's doubles Grand Slam winner confirms that the two shared a romantic relationship, before she was allegedly coerced into having sex at his home, while his wife stood watch.

The note, which was addressed to Gaoli was swiftly scubbed by Weibo, and consequently all searches with regards to Shuai or even tennis were blocked. Shuai's disappearance from the public view sparked major concern, with the WTA and plenty of tennis luminaries like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Martina Navratilova among others, speaking out to question their colleague's whereabouts.

The WTA has since suspended all its tennis activities in China and Hong Kong with WTA chief Steve Simon making it clear that the safety of the tennis players and their rights come ahead of the hundreds of millions that the WTA will forfeit by cancelling its tournaments in China.