Nabokov to join Russia at World Hockey Championships

QUEBEC CITY, Canada (AFP) — All-star goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has been cleared to join Team Russia for the 2008 World Ice Hockey Championships.

The 32-year-old San Jose Sharks netminder is expected to arrive in Quebec City on Thursday.

He needed to get his NHL contract insured before he could start competing at the Worlds which are being held in Halifax and Quebec City.

This will mark the first World Championships for Nabokov who competed for Russia at the 2006 Turin Winter Games.

Nabokov started playing for his native country Kazakhstan in the 1990s before becoming a Russian citizen.

He is in his eighth season with the Sharks who were eliminated from the National Hockey League playoffs on Sunday.

San Jose lost 2-1 in the fourth-overtime period to Dallas who took the series four games to ...