SYDNEY: Ric Charlesworth will step down as Australia’s coach before next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Hockey Australia said on Thursday.

Australia beat the Netherlands 6-1 to win the World Cup in The Hague last weekend and Charlesworth, 62, believed now was the best time to quit.

“Last Sunday’s World Cup final is the best full stop I could wish for in my coaching career. I believe it would be indulgent for me to go to the Commonwealth Games,” he said in a statement.

Charlesworth represented Australia 227 times in a playing career spanning 17 years from his debut in 1972.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2014