Charlesworth steps down as Aussie hockey coach

MELBOURNE: Australia Ric Charlesworth has decided to step down as head coach of the national men´s hockey team after leading them to the World Cup title on Sunday.

A giant in the sport, five-time Olympian Charlesworth won a silver medal as a player at the 1976 Montreal Olympics before coaching the Australian women´s team to back-to-back gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games and at Sydney in 2000.

Charlesworth, who also won four World Cups with both the men´s and women´s teams, had planned to step down after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games starting next month. "I have thought about it a lot. The high point of my year was the World Cup," the Perth-born 62-year-old said in a statement. "The team will be moving on and it´s my personal decision - I don´t want to be packing up and away for another three weeks."

A former first class cricketer for Western Australia and a Member of Parliament, Charlesworth´s coaching onus has been in high demand, leading to a role as a high performance manager for New Zealand cricket among various other consultancies.

As Hockey Australia searches for a successor, he will continue to prepare the Australian men for another month before they leave for Glasgow, where they will bid for a fifth successive gold medal in the July 23 - Aug. 4 Games. (AFP)