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Former head coach of national ice hockey team calls it a career

Mikhail Zakharaw, a former head coach of the Belarusian national ice hockey team, plans to resign as the head coach of HC Yunost Minsk and end his career in the sport, according to the press office of the hockey club.

The press office said that there were no other reasons for the move but a "wish to quit the coaching career on a high professional level."
Mr. Zakharaw will hold a news conference soon to "answer all questions," said the press office.

The 51-year-old coach quits hockey amid a controversy surrounding Yunost Minsk's maiden season in Russia's Supreme Hockey League and authorities' decision to bar the club's players from playing for an affiliated club in the Belarusian domestic league's playoffs.

Mr. Zakharaw, who played for Team Belarus in the 1990s, coached the national team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where it won one and lost three games. //BelaPAN