The scandal with Novak Djokovic in early January overshadowed all tennis news, and the story of Peng Shuai was completely forgotten. But at the Australian Open, a new unpleasant situation happened: at matches, spectators are forced to take off T-shirts with the inscription “Where is Peng Shuai?”. MK-Sport tells the details.
A video was posted on social media showing Australian Open staff asking a viewer to take off their T-shirt that reads “Where’s Peng Shuai ?”. And they explain this by the fact that political slogans are prohibited at the tournament.
The footage shows Max Mok , a Hong Kong activist who recently announced his intention to fight in this year’s federal election, and a fellow onlooker in conversation with a security officer who confiscated banners and T-shirts.
Mok inquired about the reason for the confiscation, after which a police officer was called, explaining that all these inscriptions violated the tournament’s policy that prohibited political statements.
Tennis Australia has officially explained what is happening. “According to our rules for attending competitions, clothing, banners or posters that are commercial or political in nature are prohibited,” they said in a comment to ESPN.
At the same time, the organization adds that “the safety of Peng Shuai remains their main concern.”
“We continue to work with the WTA and the global tennis community to bring greater clarity to her situation and will do everything we can to ensure her well-being,” they add.
Recall that the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai came out on social networks with accusations of harassment against the former high-ranking Chinese politician Zhang Gaoli . After the post was deleted, and for a long time no one could contact the tennis player.
WTA stopped cooperation with China and canceled all tournaments in its territory. And the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach , allegedly spoke with Peng twice via video link, after which they officially announced: everything is fine with the tennis player, she is at home and simply does not want to communicate. Peng later allegedly dropped the charges against Zhang Gaoli.
In the meantime, these activists in Australia have started a fundraising campaign to make as many T-shirts as possible with these slogans and give them away for free to all spectators who came to the women’s singles tournament in Melbourne. In 24 hours, $6,800 was raised.
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