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Melissa Vargas

Turkish volleyball player (born 1999) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melissa Vargas
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Melissa Teresa Vargas Abreu (born 16 October 1999 in Cienfuegos, Cuba) is a Cuban-born Turkish volleyball player,[1] who plays for Fenerbahçe Opet and the Turkey women's national volleyball team.[2]

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She was a member of the Cuba women's national volleyball team and was part of the national team at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Italy.[3] Since 2023, she has been playing in the Turkey women's national volleyball team.[4]

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Personal life

Vargas was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba.[5] Her father was a handball player, she began playing volleyball on the street at age six and joined her school's team at age eight.[6] In 2021, she acquired Turkish citizenship.[4]

Career

She started training for the Cienfuegos team at the age of 12, also played in the Cuban national youth volleyball teams.

She played for Agel Prostějov in the Czech Republic for one season in 2016. She suffered a shoulder injury and returned to her country for treatment. After she was dissatisfied with the treatment opportunities in her country and criticized them, she was banned from playing in the national team for 4 years between 2017–2021, on the grounds of indiscipline. Then she was transferred to Volero Zürich.

Fenerbahçe Opet (2018–present)

On 29 June 2018, she was transferred to Turkey for Fenerbahçe Opet and started her career as a fairy tale.[7]

She played in the Chinese League in the first halves of the Sultans League in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons and returned to Fenerbahçe for the second halves of those seasons.[8][9][10]

On 10 April 2021, the application made by the Turkish Volleyball Federation for Vargas to obtain citizenship of the Republic of Turkey was approved and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented Melissa Vargas with her TR ID Card.[11]

On 9 July 2024, she renewed her contract with Fenerbahçe Opet for 3 years.[12]

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International career

Cuba

Vargas has limited international experience with Cuba, appearing in the 2014 FIVB Women's World Championship, 2015 FIVB Women's World Cup, and in three editions of the FIVB World Grand Prix.[13]

In 2016, after suffering a shoulder injury while playing for Agel Prostějov, Vargas returned to Cuba for treatment.[6] After finding Cuban facilities lacking, she sought treatment elsewhere, at which point the Cuban Federation imposed a four-year ban on Vargas for what they described as "insulting and undisciplined attitudes toward her country."[14]

Turkey

After acquiring Turkish citizenship in 2021, Vargas became eligible to represent Turkey in international competition in 2023, after playing for the Turkish volleyball club Fenerbahçe for five seasons. She debuted with the team at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League, where she played in 11 matches and won gold medal with the team. She was named MVP of the competition.[13] At the 2023 Women's European Volleyball Championship, Vargas was once again named MVP after winning gold with Turkey.[15]

Awards

Honors

Club

Czech Republic Agel Prostějov
Switzerland Volero Zürich
China Tianjin Bohai Bank
Turkey Fenerbahçe

International

Cuba Cuba
Turkey Turkey

Individual

Club

International

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References

External links

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