Australian Open tennis chief Craig Tiley is accepting spectators wearing T-shirts to support Chinese player Peng Shui, provided they do not have hostile behavior, he told AFP on Tuesday.
“Yes, as long as they do not appear as a hostile mob to cause chaos, but are peaceful,” Mr. Tiley said, adding that security officials would judge on a case-by-case basis.
Organizers of the Internationals had sparked controversy by asking supporters on Sunday to take off their T-shirts bearing the slogan Where is Peng Shuai?on the grounds that the Australian Open “does not allow political clothing, banners or placards”, according to a representative of the Australian Tennis Federation.
Czech-American Martina Navratilova, a tennis legend with 18 Grand Slam titles in the single, described the decision as “passive” on Twitter.
“Misunderstandings”
“There have been misunderstandings for some people who are not here and do not really know the big picture,” Craig Tilly said on Tuesday.
“The situation for the last two days is that some people have come with a banner on two big poles and we can not allow that,” he added.
“If you come to watch tennis, it’s okay, but in the end we can not allow anyone to cause trouble. »
The incident comes as local media quotes human rights experts as saying that Tennis Australia’s stance may be illegal.
“There seems to be no good reason for a participant to be asked to remove a T-shirt highlighting a human rights issue,” lawyer Michael Stanton told the newspaper. The age.
In response to the organizers’ ban, an Australian human rights activist managed to raise more than A $ 14,000 (over € 9,000) on the platform GoFundMe aiming to print the same t-shirts and distribute them to the spectators in view of the final of the women’s tournament.
Former world number two Peng Shuai is out of Melbourne amid fears of her well-being after posting a lengthy (deleted) post on Chinese social media Weibo in November accusing the former deputy prime minister of Gaoli, 40 years her senior. , of “forced” sex during a relationship that lasted several years.
China very quickly blocked any reference to this message and then did not appear in public for almost three weeks.
Her next public appearances did not end the worries about the loss of the 36-year-old from the Australian Open.
The WTA has been hailed for its continued support of the player, to the point of suspending its tournaments in China.
Players continued to ask Peng directly to reassure him of his safety.
Craig Tilly reiterated that the “primary concern” of the organization was “the prosperity of Peng Shui”.
