BEIJING (AP) - Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai said she is safe and well, speaking in a 30-minute video call with IOC President Thomas Bach on Sunday, according to the IOC.
The call came 19 days after her allegation of sexual assault against a former high-ranking politician in China.
Peng said that “she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time,” according to an IOC press release. “That is why she prefers to spend her time with friends and family right now.”
IOC Athletes’ Commission chair Emma Terho and Chinese IOC member Li Lingwei, who the IOC said has known the three-time Olympian Peng for many years, were also on the call.
Also Sunday, videos and photos posted on social media showed Peng at a youth tennis tournament in Beijing, standing beside a court, waving and signing oversize commemorative tennis balls for children.