Former French Open champion disappears after accusing Chinese politician of sexual abuse

A former French Open doubles Champion, Peng Shuai, has allegedly disappeared just days after she accused a Chinese politician of sexual abuse. The 2014 French Open champion had earlier this month accused former vice premier of Beijing, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual abuse via a Weibo post.

Shuai had assuced Gaoli of forcing her to have sex with him in the post and has since disappeared altogether. The Weibo post was also pulled down within 20 minutes, along with all of Shuai's recent posts on the platform. Further, the term 'wangqiu' - the Chinese translation of tennis, has also been censored in Weibo.

In the post Peng Shuai alleged that she met Zhang for the first time in 2011 and the duo slept together for the first time then. The politician later cut off all the ties with the tennis star after he was promoted to the bureau.

Peng alleged in the post that Zhang connected back to her after his retirement from politics in 2018 and invited her to a dinner with his wife. This is where she was forced into sex by the now 75-year-old Zhang Gaoli.

Though sex scandals are not new in China, Peng's allegations has sent shockwaves across the country because this is the first time that a high-rank member of the country's ruling Communist Party has been accused of something like this.