After mounting pressure from all quarters, Tennis Australia overturned the ban restricting Australian Open spectators from wearing T-shirts highlighting the controversy around Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.
Peng Shuai supporters at the Australian Open. Image Courtesy: @lukeyg79
Tennis Australia on Tuesday overturned the ban restricting Australian Open spectators from wearing T-shirts highlighting the controversy around Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.
Peng, the former doubles world number one, is absent from Melbourne and there are concerns for her wellbeing after she accused the Chinese former vice-premier of sexual assault in a social media post last year. She later denied having made the claims but there are still concerns as to whether she is free.
What is the controversy?
Two protesters carrying a banner and shirts with the phrase: “Where is Peng Shuai?” were ejected from the Australian Open last week and later the video of the incident was circulated widely on social media, with people calling the move “pathetic” and “unjust”.
Tennis Australia defended the move by saying that under their ticket conditions of entry they did not allow “clothing, banners or signs that are commercial or political”.
The decision invited fierce criticism from human rights groups and the international tennis community, with many suggesting that organisers were bowing to pressure from major Chinese sponsors.
This is the second controversy to have hit the Australian Open after Novak Djokovic — the world’s top-ranked men’s player and defending champion — was deported from the country after losing a COVID-19 vaccination exemption legal battle.
‘Deeply concerning’, says Australia minister
Australia’s defence minister Peter Dutton also lashed out against the ban, calling Tennis Australia’s actions “deeply concerning”.
“I think we should be speaking up about these issues, and I’d encourage… tennis organisations, including Tennis Australia [to do so],” BBC quoted broadcaster Sky News’ interview with Dutton.
Dutton also praised the actions of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which has pulled all tournaments from China this year in response to the controversy.
Why the U-turn on ban?
Relaxation of the policy came as local media cited human rights experts as saying Tennis Australia’s stance could be unlawful.
After mounting pressure from all quarters, tournament chief Craig Tiley said, “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts would be permitted as long as those wearing them were peaceful, adding that security would make case-by-case assessments.”
“Yes, as long as they are not coming as a mob to be disruptive but are peaceful. It’s all been a bit lost in translation from some people who are not here and don’t really know the full view.
“The situation in the last couple of days is that some people came with a banner on two large poles and we can’t allow that.
“If you are coming to watch the tennis that’s fine, but we can’t allow anyone to cause a disruption at the end of the day,” he added.
News of the decision came as the activists behind the campaign were making their way to Melbourne Park, with plans to wear the T-shirts again on Tuesday.
Max Mok, a human rights activist, welcomed the development and tweeted that 1,000 T-shirts would be handed out on Saturday at Melbourne Park ahead of the women’s final.
A GoFundMe page set up to raise money to print more T-shirts reached its Aus$10,000 (US$7,100) goal within two days, with activists pledging to make them available to whoever wants to wear them.
Stars on the controversy
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova tweeted on Sunday that the confiscation of the T-shirts and banner was “pathetic”.
Quarter-finalist Alize Cornet, who has been a prominent supporter of the campaign to find out what happened to Shuai and was the first to ask the question, where is Peng Shuai?, on social media in November, said she knew Peng Shuai for a long time and to know what’s going on with her was only fair.
“When I heard that, I was surprised. I think everybody should be able to manifest their support for Peng Shuai,” Daily Mail quoted the 32-year-old French player as saying.
“I felt like it was my duty as a player who knew her for a long time to just ask what’s going on. I’m very happy all these people followed me after that. It’s still very unsure how she’s doing, but I think putting some light on this story was good for her overall.”
With inputs from AFP
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