Equestrian Sport News:Equestrian sport has been hit by another high-profile departure, with the resignation yesterday of the Eventing Ireland performance manager Lars Christensson. The Swede's exit comes hot on the heels of Dubliner Michael Stone's resignation as secretary general of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) last Friday.

Christensson, who took on the job as performance manager towards the end of 2005, had laid down a stringent list of criteria that riders had to meet before they would be eligible for team selection. The criteria had been adjusted when injuries and weather cancellation caused problems with selection for this year's European Championships and, last Friday, Christensson announced a team of four to travel to next month's championships in Italy.

Countries are eligible to send a squad of six to the championships and some of the Irish not included in the team felt that they had been overlooked. An independent panel met on Saturday to discuss the issue and agreed with Christensson's line that only four horses should travel to the championships, which offer the last chance for Ireland to qualify an eventing team for next year's Olympic Games. In spite of management support, Christensson could not be persuaded to withdraw his resignation. He could not be contacted for comment at home in Sweden last night.

On the show jumping front, Billy Twomey finished third in yesterday's closing class at the Global Champions Tour meeting.