Nataliya Obmochaeva
UkraineBiography of Natalia Goncharova
Natalia Goncharova is a Ukrainian and Russian volleyball player, an attacker, and a member of the Russian national team. She was born in Skole, Lviv Oblast. She started playing volleyball in Ivano-Frankivsk, where she moved with her family. Her first coach was Pyotr Pogrebennik. In the Ukrainian championship, she played for the teams "Regina" (Rivne) and "Universitet" (Ivano-Frankivsk). She also played for the junior and youth national teams of Ukraine. In 2005, she became the European junior champion, and in 2006, she won the bronze medal at the European championship for youth teams.
In 2007, Natalia Goncharova started playing for Moscow's "Dynamo" team, with which she became the Russian champion in 2009, the silver medalist of the Russian championships in 2010, 2011, and 2012, the winner of the Russian Cup in 2009 and 2011, the finalist of the CEV Champions League in 2009, and the finalist of the Russian Cup in 2012. Her sister, Valeria Goncharova (born in 1988), is also a player for the "Dynamo" team in Moscow.
In 2012, Natalia Goncharova married volleyball player Alexey Obmochaev from Kazan's "Zenit" and the Russian national team. In the middle of 2010, her volleyball citizenship was changed from Ukrainian to Russian (she last played for the Ukrainian national team in November 2007 at the European Olympic qualification tournament for the 2008 Olympics). After this, the head coach of the Russian national team, Vladimir Kuziutkin, included Natalia in the Russian squad. Her debut in the national team took place in June 2010 at the Montreux Volley Masters international tournament. In July 2010, Natalia Goncharova, as part of the Russian national team, won the Yeltsin Cup, and in September, she won the silver medal at the European qualification for the 2011 Grand Prix.
In November 2010, she became a world champion as part of the Russian national team.
