Thomas Bach to meet Peng Shuai, hopes to assess tennis player’s well-being

BEIJING — Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai will enter the “closed loop” to meet with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach amid lingering questions about her welfare.

Peng has rarely been seen in public since accusing a retired Chinese Communist Party official of sexual abuse in November. She later recanted the allegation.

When Bach spoke to Peng via videoconference about two months ago, he invited her to meet with him during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Peng is undergoing the same testing and protocols of anyone entering the closed loop.

“Yes, we will have the meeting,” Bach said during his pre-Olympic press conference Thursday at the Main Media Center. “I’m very happy and also grateful to Peng Shuai that she will enter in order to have this meeting.”

Bach did not specify when the meeting would be held with the three-time Olympian.

He said the IOC has been able to determine from Peng’s “explanations” that she is in Beijing and can move freely.

“She’s spending time with her family and friends,” Bach said. “Now we’ll be able to do the next step in a personal meeting to convince us in person of her well-being and of her state of mind.”

Peng made the allegation of sexual abuse in a social media post, which was quickly removed. She then mostly dropped out of sight except for a well-publicized appearance with basketball star Yao Ming and photos which aroused suspicions they were doctored. The tennis world’s worries spread to the general public

Bach said the IOC first wanted to determine Peng’s whereabouts, and then sought to make sure she was safe.

“What better way than to have a personal meeting?” Bach said. “It’s a necessity to respect her and then to listen to her and how she sees the situation, how she wants to live her life and this is what we are step-by-step trying to find out.”

Yet the IOC President said he would not initiate an investigation into the sexual assault allegation. “If she wants to have an inquiry, of course, we will also support her in this,” he said.

But he emphasized that it is Peng’s decision.

“It’s her life, it’s her allegations,” Bach said. “We have heard the allegations, we have heard the withdrawal…. We will continue this conversation. Then we will know better about her physical integrity and her mental state.”