It has been reported that Chinese women’s number one tennis player Peng Shuai has been admitted to hospital with dehydration.
The BBC’s Paul Golding reports that Peng, who is ranked 13th in the world, had been hospitalised for a week.
However, Dick Pound, a co-founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said she is “OK”.
Pound told the BBC: “I talked to her yesterday and she said she was fine. I got a sense yesterday she wasn’t too well and so I called the doctor.
“The doctor called me last night to let me know she’s OK. So we don’t know exactly what happened. But he said there was no change in condition last night in comparison to yesterday. And yes, he was very clear that she was OK.”
In a video posted on Weibo, one of China’s top social media sites, Peng said she was “heavily dehydrated” when she was admitted to hospital.
“I was so heavy my skin turned yellow. I’m trying to take care and relax. My immune system is down. Just rest,” she said.
Despite Peng’s hospitalisation, China’s top tennis player Li Na is hoping she will return to action next week at the French Open.
The 2014 French Open runner-up said she has been with Peng through what she described as a “dark time”, as she recovers from her illness.
“I’m not in a position to say exactly what illness she had or how long she was sick for,” Li said after a training session in Paris on Tuesday.
“Peng Shuai has been struggling in the past few weeks with a lot of sickness, so we have just been through a very dark time for the past few weeks. It’s OK now to try and enjoy tennis again and (get) her game back,” she added.