BEIJING, (Reuters) – Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player, said Sunday that she has never been accused of sexually assaulting anyone. She also stated that a post that she made on social media last month was misunderstood.

Peng became an issue of concern for the rights organizations and the tennis community when she claimed that Zhang Gaoli, a former vice president from China, had sexually assaulted Peng. She was gone for almost three weeks after that statement.

Peng stated that he had never written or spoken of anyone sexually assaulting me. This was in the video that Lianhe Zaobao posted.

Peng spoke on Sunday for the first time in public. On the sidelines, Peng addressed the crowd at a Shanghai cross-country skiing competition.

She claimed that the post she made on Weibo, a Twitter-like social network, was private and had been removed quickly.

Peng (35 years old) said that people have “many misunderstandings” regarding her Weibo post. She was not specific.

Also, she said that she was living in Beijing at her own expense. Zhang was not mentioned.

Since Peng’s Weibo posting, Reuters was unable to contact Peng.

Early this month, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which has sought a direct line of communication with Peng, said it would suspend tournaments https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/wta-suspends-tournaments-china-over-peng-shuai-situation-2021-12-01 in China immediately due to concerns over the treatment of Peng and the safety of other players.

WTA declined to respond immediately to Sunday’s request for comment.

China did not comment on Peng’s original post but stated after WTA’s decision to suspend Chinese tournaments that it opposed “politization of sport”.

Zhang did not comment on this matter.

China has censored much of the discussion surrounding the scandal as Beijing is preparing to host the Winter Olympics in February.

Peng stated in Sunday’s video that she wrote a personal letter to Steve Simon last month. In it, she denies the allegations of assault and said that she was correct in stating that the English translation by Chinese state media had been accurate.

Simon said that at that time he had “hard time believing” Peng actually wrote the email.

Peng was 35 when the International Olympic Committee held two live video calls.

According to the Lianhe Zabao report, Peng was seen on Sunday at the Shanghai event. He was accompanied by athletes from different sports including Yao Ming (ex-NBA basketball player) and stayed there for around 20 minutes.

A black jacket was worn by her with a China flag on it and a red Tshirt with Chinese characters.