Daily Times

PARIS: Senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound on Tuesday denied the organisation vouched for the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai to avoid angering 2022 Olympic host Beijing. The whereabouts of Peng became a matter of international concern for nearly three weeks after she posted a message on social media alleging that China’s former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her. On Nov. 21, IOC President Thomas Bach had a 30-minute video call with Peng ––– a three-times Olympian who supporters say may be under political duress ––– during which she told him she was safe and with family and friends. But Human Rights Watch said the IOC’s interest seemed to be to keep the Games on track, not the welfare of athletes, a suggestion Pound vehemently denied. “That’s complete nonsense … there was generalised concern about what may or may not have happened to her,” Pound said. “So what the IOC did was very quietly put a little bit of an Olympic network together with our president, the Athletes’ Commission, one of our senior members in China and they got in touch with her and she was happy.”