International Tennis Federation (ITF) chief Davod Haggerty has said on Sunday that the organisation will not boycott China over Peng Shuai case as they din’t want to punish a billion of people in the country.
Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) that controls the women’s game has suspended all the major women’s game in China after some serious doubts of Chinese player Peng Shaui who had accused a top Communist Party leader of sexual assault.
However, the ATP, which governs men’s tennis, has refused to follow the WTA’s example.
Now the ITF, the overall ruling body of tennis, has also rejected such a move.
“As the governing body of tennis, we stand in support of all women’s rights,” Haggerty told the BBC.
“The allegations (of Peng) need to be looked into, and we will continue to work behind the scenes and directly to bring this to resolution.
“But you have to remember that the ITF is the governing body of the sport worldwide, and one of the things that we are responsible for is grassroots development.
“We don’t want to punish a billion people, so we will continue to run our junior events in the country and our senior events that are there for the time being.”
The decision from WTA was also backed by many seior players like Novak Djokovic, Bille Jean King and many more.