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The chairman of the Women&rsquo;s Tennis Association (WTA) has said he is worried over the safety of leading Chinese player Peng Shuai, who has gone missing after she alleged that a top Chinese political leader had forced her to have sex with him.</p>
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WTA chairman Steve Simon said he had been repeatedly trying to reach her via numerous forms of communication, to no avail.</p>
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He called for &quot;independent and verifiable proof that she is safe&quot;.</p>
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Simon has raised doubts over the authenticity of an email, purportedly sent by Peng to him, which has been posted on Chinese state media.</p>
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Simon said that he had a &quot;hard time believing&quot; the email was written by Peng.</p>
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China&rsquo;s state-run CGTN published a screenshot on Twitter of what it said was an email written by Peng to Simon and other WTA officials.</p>
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In the email, Peng purportedly claims that her earlier accusations of sexual abuse are &quot;not true&quot; and says she is &quot;resting at home and everything is fine.&quot;</p>
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<strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/culture-news/china-shocked-as-tennis-star-peng-accuses-ex-vice-premier-zhang-of-forcing-her-to-have-sex-with-him-125994.html">China shocked as tennis star Peng accuses ex-Vice Premier Zhang of forcing her to have sex with him</a></p>
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But doubts were quickly flagged about the language used in the purported email from Peng, which Twitter users noted had a cursor visible in the screenshot posted by CGTN.</p>
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Simon said he was struggling to believe it was authentic.</p>
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&quot;The statement released today by Chinese state media concerning Peng Shuai only raises my concerns as to her safety and whereabouts,&quot; Simon wrote in a statement.</p>
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&quot;I have a hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email we received or believes what is being attributed to her,&quot; he added.</p>
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&quot;Peng Shuai displayed incredible courage in describing an allegation of sexual assault against a former top official in the Chinese government,&quot; said Simon.</p>
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&quot;Her allegation of sexual assault must be respected, investigated with full transparency and without censorship.</p>
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&quot;The voices of women need to be heard and respected, not censored nor dictated to.&quot;</p>
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China has kept silent over growing concern for the tennis star.</p>
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The media post alleging the sexual assault which sent shock waves through the Communist country was deleted half an hour after it was published as China&#39;s internet is under strict censorship and any mention of the private lives of top leaders is not allowed.</p>
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According to a screenshot of her verified Weibo account late on Tuesday, Peng said that Zhang Gaoli, who became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.</p>
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