Peng Shuai protesters to hand out thousands of yellow ribbons as T-shirt campaign widens

Tennis fans protesting against the disappearance of Peng Shuai are upping their game for the Australian Open women’s final.

Tennis fans will be offered yellow ribbons to protest against the disappearance of Peng Shuai at the women’s final on Saturday.

Activists who have printed T-shirts have expanded their protest to turn Rod Laver Arena into a sea of yellow.

Drew Pavlou, who has been behind the campaign that captured global headlines, says they will not be silenced.

“Tennis Australia has not apologised, and they would have continued with their ridiculous behaviour if it weren’t for the international outcry,” he said.

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Peng Shuai supporter Max Mok. Picture: Michael Klein

Yellow ribbons have been used as a symbol of protest for decades, most notably when Americans were held hostage in Iran in 1979.

A Go Fund Me page raised more than $20,000 to pay for the printing of more than 1000 “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts.

Mr Pavlou said the ribbons would allow the activists to spread their protest wider in case some fans did not want to wear the T-shirts.

Under-siege Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley overturned a ban on T-shirts this week.

Police last week had told two tennis fans to remove their “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts, claiming they were political statements.

Organisers used the fine print of the ticketing rules to argue that the T-shirts were banned.

However footage of the police intervention went viral, with the question posed: was this Melbourne or Beijing?

China’s former vice premier Zhang Gaoli (2013-18) has been accused by tennis champion Peng Shuai of forcing her to have sex during a long-term on-off relationship. Picture: AFP

Mr Pavlou, 22, said Tennis Australia had put profits before human rights because of their deal with Chinese alcohol company 1573.

“They have a $100m sponsorship deal with 1573 over five years,” he said.

Concerns remain for Shuai, a Chinese player who disappeared after she made a sexual assault claim against a former high-ranking Communist Party official in November.

Shuai has since been seen briefly in what was described as a “hostage” video.

And in an interview in December with a Singapore-based news outlet, she denied she had made the claim against former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli.

It was feared Shuai, 36, was being kept as a prisoner in China because of her only brief public appearances.

Peng Shuai’s disappearance has received global attention. Picture: AFP

Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Foreign Minister Marise Payne criticised Tennis Australia’s ban.

Martina Navratilova, who won 18 grand slams, labelled Tennis Australia cowards over the Shuai T-shirt ban.

“Sport has always been on the forefront of social issues, pushing them forward, and we are going backwards I feel … I find it really, really cowardly,” she said on the United States-based Tennis Channel.

“This is not a political statement, this is a human rights statement.”

The T-shirt debacle came after a torrid month for Tennis Australia, with its attempts to get Novak Djokovic into the country causing an international incident.

The world No.1 had his visa cancelled and was deported because he was not vaccinated against Covid-19.