A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Bennett drops out as Koening takes stage

CYCLING:One day after finishing sixth on one of the toughest stages of this year's Tour of Britain, Ireland's Sam Bennett had the disappointment of dropping out of the race. His withdrawal came approximately halfway through the 189.8 kilometre stage to Caerphilly, and was a precautionary measure before next week's under-23 world championships.

“Sam has been having knee pain as a result of a bad crash he had a couple of years ago, and it flared up on the stage,” said An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team manager Kurt Bogaerts yesterday. “It was nothing major but we didn’t want to take any risks with the worlds. He is in his best shape of the season and we have to be careful.”

Leopold Koenig (Team NetApp) beat breakaway companion Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura Racing) in a sprint to the line, the latter taking over the race lead with two stages to go.

The eight-stage race concludes with tomorrow’ s route from Reigate to Guildford.

Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins was a non-starter in Welshpool yesterday after an eventful fifth stage to Stoke-on-Trent for Team Sky on Thursday, which saw Mark Cavendish relinquish the race lead to Howard.

SHANE STOKES

Hatton to return in November

BOXING:Ricky Hatton will return to the boxing ring in November after the former world welterweight and light-welterweight champion confirmed he was coming out of retirement yesterday.

The Manchester-based fighter, who quit the sport after a devastating two-round knockout at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in May 2009, will fight a so far un-named opponent in his home citys MEN Arena in November.

Hatton, had a perfect 43-0 career record until he was floored by Floyd Mayweather jnr in Las Vegas in 2007 and he was never really the same again.

Unconvincing victories followed against Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi but he was outclassed by Pacquiao and after a long period of inactivity he retired in July last year.

“I’m back to fight for world titles. It’s more than a comeback,” he said. “ It’s worth more than money. A lot of people have said they don’t want me to tarnish the legacy but they don’t know what goes on between my ears.”

Hattons all-action style endeared him to fans who travelled in their thousands to watch him take on Mayweather.