IOC spoke with Peng

The International Olympic Committee spoke with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai last week and plans to meet with her during the Winter Olympics next month in Beijing, the organisation said yesterday. Peng has been the focus of international concern since November when she alleged in a social media post that Zhang Gaoli, a former Chinese vice premier, had sexually assaulted her in the past. After writing that, she disappeared from public view for nearly three weeks. Last month, Peng said she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her. Zhang has not commented on the matter. ‘‘Since the first call that the IOC held with Peng Shuai on 21 November 2021, the IOC team has kept in touch with her and had a number of conversations with her – the last one just the past week,’’ an IOC spokesperson said. ‘‘In this way, we got to knoweach other better.’’