Ric Charlesworth will not lead Australia men's hockey team at Commonwealth Games
Thursday 19 June 2014 10:50, UK
Australia men's hockey team head coach Ric Charlesworth has decided to step down early following Sunday’s World Cup success.
The 62-year-old had planned to leave his post after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games but will now not travel to the competition.
But 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.
He said in a statement: "I have thought about it a lot. The high point of my year was the World Cup.
"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."
During his playing career, the five-time Olympian won a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
As a coach, Charlesworth led the Australian women's team to back-to-back gold medals in 1996 and 2000, while also winning four World Cups with both the men's and women's teams.
