Tennis player Peng Shuai denies accusing Chinese official of sexual assault: 'A huge misunderstanding'

Peng Shuai.
(Image credit: Yifan Ding/Getty Images)

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai told a French newspaper on Sunday it is her "wish" that people stop twisting a social media post she made last year accusing a high-ranking Chinese official of sexual assault, calling it "an enormous misunderstanding."

Peng's interview with L'Equipe was conducted in Beijing, with a Chinese Olympic Committee representative translating. The questions had to be submitted ahead of time, L'Equipe said, and Peng's answers printed verbatim. This was the 36-year-old's first interview with non-Chinese media since she posted and quickly deleted the accusation in November, The Associated Press reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.