Women’s Tennis Association demands meeting with Peng Shuai
The WTA has told sports authorities a private meeting with Peng Shuai — the tennis star who largely disappeared from the public after she accused a senior official of sexual assault — is a precondition for tennis matches to resume in China.
On January 5, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) demanded a private meeting with Péng Shuài 彭帅 as a condition for tournaments to resume in China.
At the end of 2021, the former tennis star accused former Chinese Vice Premier Zhāng Gāolì 张高丽 of sexual assault in a since-deleted Weibo post. The post caused Peng to disappear from the public eye, before re-emerging to deny making any accusations in a series of stilted videos and awkward on-camera appearances. In response, the WTA announced the suspension of all games in China on December 2, 2021.
To date, the WTA has still not had a meeting with Peng, despite International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach attending a staged appearance with her ahead of the Beijing Winter Games.
“There has not been any change in the WTA position on a return to China and we have only confirmed our 2023 calendar through U.S. Open,” the WTA said in a statement.
“As we would do with any of our players globally, we have called for a formal investigation into the allegations by the appropriate authorities and an opportunity for the WTA to meet with Peng — privately — to discuss her situation,” it added.
While China’s COVID-zero policy meant that all WTA tournaments in 2022 would likely have been suspended anyway, the WTA still took the remarkable step of publicly putting itself at odds with the country — something that sports organizations have avoided since the NBA’s Daryl Morey affair.
Chinese snooker suspensions overshadow Masters
A total of ten Chinese snooker players have been suspended over alleged match-fixing ahead of the 2023 Masters, leaving Sunday’s opening of the world’s most prestigious snooker tournament under a cloud.
In October and December last year, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) announced successive suspensions of eight Chinese players while it investigated allegations.
But the latest suspensions, of Zhāng Jiànkāng 张健康, 24, alongside Zhào Xīntóng 赵心童, 25, last week, brought the scandal into 2023.
Zhao, alongside Yán Bǐngtāo 颜丙涛, 22, are the most high-profile of those suspended, both considered the leading Chinese players of the game. Yan won the Masters himself in 2021, while Zhao is the current world number nine.
The story began in October last year when WPBSA suspended Liáng Wénbó 梁文博, 35, who was ranked 56th in the world. It opened the floodgates for the suspensions that followed.
Most of the suspended players have remained silent. However, Cháng Bīngyù 常冰玉, 20, accused Liang of threatening him before a game in a since-deleted Weibo post.
Chang alleged that Liang bet a large amount on him to lose 4-1 to Jamie Jones at the British Open, before carrying on to threaten him to keep quiet during the investigation. Chang also claimed that he refused to cover for his compatriot Liang and revealed everything to WPBSA.
The scandal is devastating for snooker. China has long been one of the most important markets for the sport, and World Snooker struggled to fill the financial hole left by the cancellation of Chinese tournaments during the COVID-19 pandemic and the enforcement of China’s COVID-zero policy.
2023 was expected to be the year snooker finally returned to the country. However, the suspensions have threatened to derail the progress hoped for this year. It’s unclear how deep this match-fixing scandal will go, and what the long-term damage to the sport will be.
Other sports stories in the news:
Workers’ stadium opening pushed back to march (The Beijinger)
Eileen Gu reflects on ‘mind blowing’ 2022, sets sights on Aspen X Games (SCMP)
China seeking U-turn to F1 race calendar despite Portugal deal (The Mirror)
The China Sports Column runs every week.
