Tennis: Li Na to play in Japan despite tension

TOKYO: China’s Li Na will play in Japan in the coming week, despite athletes from both countries pulling out of tournaments over tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, said organisers.

The world number eight, who won the 2011 French Open, will be joined by fellow Chinese Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai at the $2.17-million Pan Pacific Open, which starts tomorrow. “They are coming,” said a tournament official. “We have not heard otherwise.”

The WTA tournament comes as ties between China and Japan have deteriorated markedly over Japan-administered islands in the East China Sea called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Japanese rugby, cycling and table tennis teams have dropped plans to compete in China over fears for their safety.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2012.