MOSCOW, September 4 Ak Bars Kazan forward Danis Zaripov admitted that that he still wants to play for the Russian national hockey team, but understands that this is impossible. As part of the Russian national team, Zaripov won the gold medals of the world championships three times, and also became a silver and bronze medalist once. The last world championship in which Zaripov performed was the 2015 tournament, held in the Czech Republic. In December 2015, the striker played for the Russian national team for the last time. «I wanted and still want to (play for the national team), but I understand that this is already unrealistic only if they create some kind of Russia-U40 veterans team (laughs). After the World Championship in the Czech Republic, I didn’t receive any more calls, and I already understood that there was no point in waiting and getting upset. Therefore, I devoted myself completely to the KHL, ”the official website of the Russian Hockey Federation (FHR) quotes Zaripov. Zaripov is 41 years old, he is the only five-time winner of the Gagarin Cup in the history of the KHL.
