{"id":44550,"date":"2021-12-22T23:52:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T23:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/?p=44550"},"modified":"2021-12-22T23:52:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T23:52:28","slug":"chinese-citys-tennis-ambitions-imperilled-by-peng-shuai-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/?p=44550","title":{"rendered":"Chinese city\u2019s tennis ambitions imperilled by Peng scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A gloomy morning: two staff at the pool have tested covid-19 positive, so they closed the building down. Be vigilant and be mindful.<\/p>\n

Wishing everyone a save holiday season!<\/p>\n

Apparently, Peng Shuai<\/a> has come out to deny the sexual assault accusation<\/a>. This becomes funny …<\/p>\n

In any case, wish her safe and sound, and wishing everyone safe and well.<\/p>\n

\n

Chinese city\u2019s tennis ambitions imperilled by Peng Shuai scandal<\/p>\n

By Syndicated Content
\nDec 18, 2021<\/a>
\nBy David Kirton<\/p>\n

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) \u2013 Hosting the Women\u2019s Tennis Association Finals was supposed to put the Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen on the sporting map, but the suspension of the tournament in the wake of the Peng Shuai scandal has left its ambitions in limbo.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s \u201cmiracle\u201d city, best known as the launchpad of the country\u2019s 40-year economic transformation, is among China\u2019s wealthiest and is home to tech giants including Huawei Technologies and Tencent Holdings.<\/p>\n

In January 2018 the WTA announced that Shenzhen had trumped rival bids from Manchester, Prague, St Petersburg and former host Singapore to stage what would \u201ceasily be the largest and most significant WTA Finals\u201d in its history, its chairman and CEO Steve Simon said at the time.<\/p>\n

The city of more than 17 million that neighbours Hong Kong had promised a state-of-the-art stadium, while local real estate developer Gemdale Corp put up $14 million in prize money \u2013 double the pot of the previous finals \u2013 winning the right to stage the event from 2019 to 2028.<\/p>\n

But early this month, Simon announced the WTA would suspend tournaments in China over the treatment of former No.1 doubles player Peng Shuai, who was not seen in public for nearly three weeks after accusing China\u2019s former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. [L1N2SN04V]<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless China takes the steps we have asked for, we cannot put our players and staff at risk by holding events in China,\u201d Simon said, taking a stand that drew support from the global tennis community but embarrassed Beijing as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics in February.<\/p>\n

Doubt over the tournament\u2019s future highlights the clash between China\u2019s global sporting ambitions and western criticism of Beijing\u2019s authoritarianism. A handful of countries led by the United States have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics \u2013 meaning they won\u2019t send government representatives.<\/p>\n

China hosted nine WTA events in 2019, but the WTA confirmed on Dec. 7 that the traditional season-opening Shenzhen Open, an event separate from the WTA Finals, will not take place in the first half of 2022. China has been all-but-shut to international visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. [L4N2SS1I0]<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Shenzhen government said he did not know whether the WTA would return. The Florida-based WTA said it remained hopeful that China would do what it asked in allowing for a direct line of communication with Peng.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why this is a suspension at this point, not a cancellation,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

MISSED SERVE<\/p>\n

For Shenzhen, the WTA Finals were to be a boost to its cultural and sporting prestige.<\/p>\n

In late 2017, then-mayor Chen Rugui personally lobbied Simon to host the finals, saying Shenzhen is a young and open city and the tournament would help \u201ctake sports to a new level\u201d, according to an official report.<\/p>\n

Chinese media were effusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a major event for Chinese fans and tennis, but a fantastic chance for Shenzhen to become an internationally renowned name,\u201d the Shenzhen Evening News said.<\/p>\n

The WTA Finals is the most prestigious women\u2019s event after the four Grand Slams, and the Shenzhen prize money was $5 million more than in the equivalent men\u2019s ATP Finals, ensuring a star-studded draw. World No.1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia won the first Shenzhen WTA Finals in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest tournament outside the Grand Slams, it\u2019s massive, it\u2019s hard to overstate the importance of that in terms of the prestige and the level of the players and the money involved,\u201d said Mark Dreyer of China Sports Insider.<\/p>\n

POLITICAL GOODWILL<\/p>\n

Shenzhen\u2019s tennis hopes also underscored the confluence in China between sports and the now-struggling property sector.<\/p>\n

Nine of the 16 teams in China\u2019s troubled top soccer league, which became notorious for splashing out millions of dollars for global stars, are majority-owned by companies linked to the real estate sector, including debt-strapped China Evergrande Group and the Kaisa Group, which owns Shenzhen\u2019s club.<\/p>\n

Gemdale, which sponsored the tournament, operates several tennis facilities in Shenzhen including an \u201cinternational\u201d training academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir business model is not to get it back in ticket sales and all that sort of stuff, it\u2019s political goodwill that they get from the Shenzhen government,\u201d Dreyer said.<\/p>\n

Gemdale declined to comment.<\/p>\n

As for the stadium, the plan is to preserve the facade of a 1985 arena \u2013 historic by Shenzhen standards \u2013 in a 3.6 billion yuan ($566 million) renovation that would expand its capacity to 16,000, according to announcements and a person with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

Work continues as the stadium will host other events, said two people with knowledge of the matter. For now, it remains a dusty construction site in the central Futian district.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by David Kirton; editing by Tony Munroe and Richard Pullin)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A gloomy morning: two staff at the pool have tested covid-19 positive, so they closed the building down. Be vigilant and be mindful. Wishing everyone a save holiday season! Apparently, Peng Shuai has come out to deny the sexual assault accusation. This becomes funny … In any case, wish her safe and sound, and wishing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swimming","category-tennis-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}