Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai repeats denial of sexual assault allegation

 Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai once again denied claiming she was sexually assaulted by a former top Communist Party official – saying there was a “huge misunderstanding” about her social media post about the alleged incident.

On Monday, Peng told France’s L’Equipe newspaper that she never alleged that she had suffered a sexual assault, the BBC reported.

“Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” the Grand Slam doubles champion was quoted as telling L’Equipe.

But the interview at the Winter Olympics was conducted under tightly controlled conditions, the BBC reported.

L’Equipe had to submit questions in advance, and the interview was conducted in the presence of a representative from China’s Olympic Committee who also translated her comments.

“I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” Peng Shuai said.

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Her interview comes after she shared a post in November accusing ex-Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform.

“This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world. My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed,” Peng reportedly told L’Equipe.