WORLD OF SPORT

FERNANDO ALONSO has threatened to walk out on Formula One if the sport’s new owners, Liberty Media, go ahead with plans to increase the calendar from to 25 races. The double world champion said: ‘I would quit the sport. I started when the calendar was 16 races, plus the tests. Now we keep increasing the races year after year. We are at a number that is quite demanding already. It’s enough with the preparation, the sponsor events, the tests, plus 20 or 21 races. I consider a good quality of life more important than to do more seasons in F1.’

BILLy JOE Saunders’ WBO middleweight title defence against Georgia’s Avtandil Khurtsidze has been cancelled after the challenger was arrested for alleged organised crime links. The pair had been due to fight on July 8 in London, but the Attorney for the Southern District of New york stated that 33 members and associates of a Russian crime gang, including Khurtsidze, had been arrested for a range of charges, such as ‘robbery and narcotics’.