Who? The Dominican Republic’s 24-year-old outside hitter who helped the Caribbean nation qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and who has already made her mark on three leading league championships.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Volleyball
Player to watch: Brayelin Martinez, Dominican Republic
As pool play at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 continues, look out for one of the Caribbean stars of the tournament
Published 05:36, 26 Jul 2021
Early Days - The Santo Domingo native was seen as a future national team star for several years, having helped the Dominican Republic win the FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship in 2015.
By then she was already part of the Dominican Republic national team, with whom she won the 2014 and 2016 NORCECA Pan-American Cup gold medals.
Martinez was also in the squad that won silver and bronze at the 2013 and 2015 FIVB Volleyball U23 World Championships.
It didn’t surprise volleyball fans in her country as she comes from a sporting family, with her brother Brayan a professional basketball player and her young sister Jineiry following her as a volleyball international.
After a season in Bolzano, Italian team Unet Yamamay Busto Arsizio came calling in 2017 and she spent a season with them, winning silver in the 2017 European CEV Cup before she joined Serie A rivals Pomi Casalmaggiore for the 2017-18 season.
Martinez popped back home to help Caribenas win the Dominican title before she returned to Europe and signed for Turkish team Aydin Büyükşehir Belediyespor in August 2018, She has spent the last seasons with Praia Club in Brazil.
Hitting the heights - The 201cm-tall has spent the past two seasons firmly establishing herself among volleyball’s leading players.
Arguably her most notable achievement was helping the Dominican Republic reach Tokyo 2020 after they missed out at the Tokyo Volleyball Qualification tournament when they finished second in their pool behind Brazil.
However, when they faced Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico in the NORCECA Continental tournamentournament they made no mistake and Martinez was on fine form and scored 15 points when they beat Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-15) in the deciding match.
It meant Marcos Kwiek’s team qualified for their third Olympic Games after appearances at Athens 2004 and London 2012.
By then Martinez was playing for Praia Clube of Uberlandia in Brazil's Super League. She joined them in 2019 and soon helped them win the 2019 Super Cup. They followed up by winning silver in the 2020 South American Club Championship, a tournament in which Martinez was named on the dream team.
In August 2020 Martinez was joined at the club by her younger sister Jineiry, a middle blocker, who is already a teammate in the national team.
So far in 2021 – Martinez ended 2020 with another trophy for her collection after she and her younger sister helped Praia Clube win the Brazilian SuperCopa. But in 2021 her club fell to Itambe Minas in the finals of the Brazilian Women's Superliga. At the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Martinez scored 149 points as her team finished sixth at the end of Preliminary Round.
What They Say – “My sister inspired me to play volleyball and she has always been an example to me. I am super proud to have a sister like her. I want to be like her. We support each other and take our profession as volleyball players very seriously,”
Jineiry Martinez.
What She Says - “I'm just working hard to achieve my dream and become a well-rounded player. I work very hard to improve my game. Everyone on my team inspires me. We play as a team and we make sure to help each other.
“I have played at the Volleyball Nations League, the World Cup and the World Championship so the Olympics are the only missing piece in my career.”