Melanie Díaz González (born May 7, 1996) is a Puerto Ricantable tennis player. As of August 2019, she has been in position 88th with 3840 points in the ITTF Women's World Ranking.[5][6]
Personal life
Melanie 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
International rise
Melanie 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]
Melanie 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 AmericanTable 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]
