India lose advisor

Hockey legend Ric Charlesworth has resigned his post of technical advisor with Indian hockey and flown back to Australia, top officials said yesterday.

Charlesworth, 54, quit four months after being formally given the job in March to revive Indian hockey after the eight-time Olympic champions failed to qualify for the Beijing Games for the first time.

"Ric has written to us that he does not want to continue," said Indian Olympic Association secretary-general Randhir Singh.

Charlesworth, who came to India as part of an initiative by the sport's world governing body to revive hockey in the country, blamed Indian officials for the current mess.

"There must be a commitment to change," said the coach. "[Indian hockey] has a long way to go in both administration and the management and coaching of the teams.

"But officials must admit to the problems before anything else. Facing up to the deficiencies presently in place is step one, and still not evident to me."

Charlesworth had played in four Olympics.