IOC President Thomas Bach contacted Peng Shuai via video call, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday afternoon.
The Chinese tennis player stressed during the conversation that they were safe and in good health, however, she asked them to respect her personal life.
In early November, Peng Shui complained online that in 2018 she had been sexually abused by former Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli.
Peng’s photos and videos of a Beijing tournament earlier Sunday had not allayed international concerns about her life, after an absence of nearly three weeks after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former high-ranking Chinese official.
The French foreign minister had called on the Chinese authorities to provide more confirmation, reiterating a statement from the International Women’s Tennis Federation (WTA) that the images were “insufficient evidence”.
“I expect only one thing: to speak,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told LCI television, adding that there could be indefinite diplomatic consequences if China did not clear up the situation. The United States and Britain have also asked China to provide evidence of Peng’s whereabouts.
Concerns over Peng erupted as global human rights groups and others called for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February over China’s human rights record.
Source: kathimerini.gr
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