Melanie Díaz González (born May 7, 1996) is a Puerto Rican table tennis player. As of August 2019, she has been in position 88th with 3840 points in the ITTF Women's World Ranking.[5][6]
| Melanie Díaz | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Díaz at a meet-and-greet in Mayagüez, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Melanie Díaz González | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Puerto Rico | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | May 7, 1996 Utuado, Puerto Rico | ||||||||||||||||||||
Table tennis career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing style | Attack | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | Senior: 61 (October 2019)[1] U21: 84 (May 2017)[2] U18: 91 (May 2014)[3] U15: 92 (January 2011)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Current ranking | 68 (April 2020)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Personal life
editMelanie Díaz was born on May 7, 1996, to Bladimir Díaz and Marangely González and is the eldest of four sisters who also are table tennis athletes, Fabiola, Gabriela and Adriana. Her paternal grandmother established and developed table tennis as a major sport in the mountainous municipality of Utuado, where her family grew up.[7] Compared to other players at her level, she's trained and coached by her own father. Melanie is also cousin to table tennis player Brian Afanador from her mother's side.[8] She is a supporter and advocate of the animal rights movement and practices veganism.
Career
editInternational rise
editMelanie Díaz erupted onto the international arena by winning silver in the women's doubles alongside her sister Adriana during the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games.[9] In 2015, she won her first Pan American bronze medal in the women's team competition alongside Adriana Díaz and teammate, Carelyn Cordero at the 2015 Pan American Games.[10]
At the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Melanie Díaz scored two gold medals. The first gold came from competing with Adriana in the women's doubles. The second came from playing in the female team alongside her sisters Adriana and Fabiola, and Daniely Ríos. She also won silver in mixed doubles playing with Daniel González.[11]
Turning point at Lima 2019
editMelanie Díaz first attained individual international recognition during the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, where she was seeded #6 in the women category.[12] She helped win the first Pan American Table Tennis gold for Puerto Rico when playing at the Women's doubles beside her sister Adriana.[13][14][15][16] Díaz also established her status as a separate international medalist by winning individual bronze at the Women's singles.[17][18] She shared the bronze podium at this event's medal ceremony with Brazilian Bruna Takahashi.[19] Díaz finally played against Bruna Takahashi in a close and lively game during the final women's team, in which she helped earn one more gold for her team. Because of her playing skills in this match, international press nicknamed the female players of the Puerto Rican team as the "comeback kids."[20][21]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Melanie Diaz - Seniors - Women Singles". ITTF Ranking. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Melanie Diaz - Under 21 - Women Singles". ITTF Ranking. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Melanie Diaz - Juniors - Women Singles". ITTF Ranking. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Melanie Diaz - Cadets - Women Singles". ITTF Ranking. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ Torres Montalvo, Victor (July 8, 2018). "Sueño hecho realidad para Bladimir Díaz dirigir a sus tres hijas". Metro News (PR). Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ "Diaz Melanie: ranking history (ITTF)". Table Tennis Guide. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- ^ Marshall, Ian (November 29, 2016). "My family, my identity, my motivation". ITTF. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Ribas Reyes, Fernando (August 7, 2019). "Bladimir Díaz sobre el bronce de Melanie: "Ya me puedo morir feliz"". El Nuevo Día. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Pillot Ortiz, Víctor (November 21, 2014). "Brilla el tenis de mesa en los juegos de Veracruz 2014". Primera Hora. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ "Dos medallas de bronce en tenis de mesa". Telemundo. July 22, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ Marshall, Ian (July 23, 2019). "Once again gold and silver for Puerto Rico; this time with a difference". ITTF. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ "Lima 2019, WOMEN'S SINGLES - SEEDING LIST" (PDF). International Table Tennis Federation (ittf). August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- ^ "Lima 2019 Results". Lima 2019. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Marshall, Ian (August 7, 2019). "First gold for Puerto Rico, day belongs to Diaz sisters". ITTF. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Hetherington, Matt (August 7, 2019). "Diaz Prevails, Silver for USA's Wu Yue on Day 4". Team US. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Andres Henao, Luis (August 8, 2019). "Puerto Rican table tennis sisters look up to Venus, Serena". Yahoo News (Associated Press). Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Ribas Reyes, Fernando (August 7, 2019). "Melanie Díaz se queda con bronce en la modalidad individual del tenis de mesa en Lima". Primera Hora. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Ribas Reyes, Fernando (August 7, 2019). "No fue fácil para Melanie desarrollarse a la sombra de Adriana, según su padre". Primera Hora. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ "Adriana Díaz va a Tokio 2020 con oro panamericano". WIPR. August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Ribas Reyes, Fernando (August 10, 2019). "Melanie Díaz llegó para quedarse". El Nuevo Día. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ Torres Montalvo, Víctor (August 11, 2019). "Así celebró el equipo de tenis de mesa un oro panamericano histórico". Metro. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
