International sports court forbade Russian ice hockey goalie to play for Russia's national team at Olympics

The International Sports Court of Arbitration forbade Russian ice-hockey goal-keeper Yevgeny Nabokov to play for the national team of Russia at the Olympics in Salt Lake City. The court motivated its decision by the fact that the Rules of the International Ice-Hockey Federation (IIHF) forbid a player who played for a national team of one country in official games held under the IIHF aegis to later form part of another country's national team.

The leadership of the Russian Olympic Select invited Yevgeny Nabokov as one of the two main goal-keepers of the squad. He played for the national team of Kazakhstan in the world junior championship of 1994. And though after that he did not form part of a national team of the other country, the court ignored this fact, the RIA Novosti correspondent reports.