Beijing 2008: Brazilian top equestrians out of Pan American Games

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Alvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto, popularly known as Doda, came out the second elite equestrian of Brazil on Tuesday to skip this summer's Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's Olympic gold winning horse rider Rodrigo Pessoa had announced Saturday that he would not compete in the event slated in July.

Doda, Olympic bronze medalist both in Atlanta 1996 and in Sydney 2000, disagrees with the criteria of the Brazilian Equestrian Confederation (CBH) to define the place holding the selection trials for the Games.

He said that six Brazilian horse riding teams live in Europe, which hosts the most important and best paid equestrian competitions, and it's impossible for them to follow the European calendar and, at the same time, come to Brazil in May for the trials.

Pessoa, gold medalist of the Pan American Games equestrian jumping teams in 1995 and 1999 along with Doda, has already qualified for the tournament, but he decided not to participate with the same reasons as Doda's.