Lausanne, Switzerland, June 28, 2016 - Nataliya Goncharova confirmed her place at the top of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Group 1 scoreboard in the third weekend of Preliminary Round action, amassing a total of 185 points since the beginning of the competition.
Related information: Despite her team's loss to Serbia on Friday, Goncharova scored 20 points, one point more than teammate Tatiana Kosheleva and five more than Serbia's most prolific player, Stefana Veljkovic. Her scoring bore fruit against Thailand, however, with 21 points contributing to end the Asian team's hopes of creating an upset on Saturday. On the final day of the weekend, Goncharova was again her team's top scorer with 24 points against Japan, taking her total for the three matches to an impressive 65.
With eight wins and one loss, Russia are qualified for the World Grand Prix Finals where they will join USA, China, Brazil, the Netherlands and hosts Thailand from July 6 to 10. As coach Yury Marichev’s team prepare for the event in Bangkok, Goncharova will be looking to help Russia regain a title they last won in 2002 before travelling to Brazil for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Goncharova’s closest rivals in the World Grand Prix Group 1 top scorer ranking are Lonneke Slöetjes of the Netherlands (169 points), Turkey’s Polen Uslupehlivan (154), Thailand’s Ajcharaporn Kongyot and (135) and Louisa Lippmann of Germany (131).
FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Group 1 - Statistics
The Russian moved to the top of the scoreboard in week two. She succeeded the Netherlands' Slöetjes who took the competition by storm in the first week of play.
Related news:Goncharova back in the driver's seatSlöetjes tops scoring in World Grand Prix Group 1