Former world darts champion Mark Webster has been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.

Webster, who claimed World Championship glory on the British Darts Organisation (BDO) circuit in 2008, has not worked at a darts event for Sky Sports since February and has this week revealed why during a wide-ranging interview on Darts World’s YouTube channel.

Welsh left-hander Webster discovered in January that he had a rare form of blood cancer called hairy cell leukaemia and has not worked since he started chemotherapy in February.

“It sounds bad when you say leukaemia, but…it’s got a good prognosis, 95 per cent of cases are successful. I will be put into some sort of remission at some point, but just the recovery at the minute is not going to plan in terms of the speed of it,” Webster explained.

“My white blood counts are still not recovering, so therefore my immune system is not great at the minute, hence why I can’t go back to work.

“It’s not the worst case sort of scenario, but it’s just a bit frustrating for me.

“I can work with people but just in sensible environments. It’s frustrating really. The day-to-day thing is a bit frustrating because I’m used to being busy. Premier League February 5 in Newcastle was the last time I worked, so yeah, (I’m) just managing it.

“I’ve got to trust the people that have been looking after me. They’ve been really good. I don’t always get the answers I want when I go in, but I’ve got to trust them.

“I got a bit carried away a few weeks ago thinking I might be able to come and work at Brighton, but my blood counts were too low.”

Sky Sports pundit Webster remains hopeful that he can return to work soon, he added: “In myself I feel fine and I would love to go back to work, but they don’t like the environment I work in.

“At the minute it’s a case of doing as I’m told and being patient. It’s frustrating because I like to be busy, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”

La Salle’s last shot at a perfect UAAP season ended in heartbreak—and some members of that squad were around on Wednesday to help this batch of Lady Spikers keep their unbeaten run intact.

“It wasn’t like they were telling us exactly what to do to avoid those kinds of heartbreaks,” Angel Canino, the La Salle star hitter, said. “It was more about motivating us, reminding us that we can do it, that they’re there to support us, and that they believe in us.”

Canino and her teammates took the first step toward deleting that old memory.

Shaking off the effects of a 17-day hiatus, La Salle moved a game closer to a perfect title run after blanking defending champion National University, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18, in Game 1 of the Season 88 women’s volleyball best-of-three championship series at Mall of Asia Arena.

A win in Saturday’s Game 2 will not only end a three-year drought but also cap La Salle’s unblemished run to the crown.

On a day of slaying ghosts, Canino fired 17 points in the dominant victory, which came amid memories of the last time the Lady Spikers were in contention for a perfect season.

That was in Season 76, when the Taft-based school swept its way to an outright title berth, only to be waylaid by fierce rival Ateneo and a young rising star named Alyssa Valdez.

“Season 76 was a nightmare. It still haunts the team. Back then, we swept the eliminations with Aby (Maraño) still leading the team, but Ateneo fought all the way in the finals,” coach Ramil de Jesus recalled.

CJ Saga and Lexi Tatlonghari, who played for De Jesus that season, were present to cheer on the current Lady Spikers.

“It makes a big difference when former Lady Spikers—our ates (older sisters)—come up to us and show that kind of trust. We really appreciate it because, as players, we tend to overthink sometimes. So when they tell us, ‘We’re here, we believe in you,’ it means a lot and really helps us.”

De Jesus doubled down on the lessons from that season to make sure his current team understood the task at hand.

“I told them I don’t want that to happen again. Every year, we prepare for whoever the defending champion is. Now we’re back in this situation … Not everyone gets this opportunity, so we have to make the most of it,” he said.

Because of its eliminations sweep, La Salle had to wait 17 days before seeing action again, as teams had to play a stepladder semifinals for the right to face the Lady Spikers in the championship.

But after getting through a testy first set, it was clear La Salle did not have to deal with rust as they moved closer to their 13th championship.

“I told the team that the stepladder format is [also] tough [for us] because the other teams get … used to the pressure while we’re resting,” said De Jesus.

“So I told the players we just have to match that intensity. Earlier, I noticed we started a bit slow, but later in the set we adjusted and kept up. By then, they were handling the pressure better.”

Shane Reterta also delivered the goods for La Salle with 11 points, 23 receptions and nine digs. Amie Provido finished with 12 points, highlighted by four kill blocks, as captain Shevana Laput finished with 11 points.

Ousmane Dembélé scored early and Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Bayern Munich with a 1-1 draw to reach the Champions League final again on Wednesday.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia raced clear after playing a simple one-two with Fabián Ruiz in midfield, then picked out the unmarked Dembélé to sweep the ball in under the crossbar in the third minute of the semifinal second leg.

It gives PSG, the defending champion, a 6-5 lead on aggregate after edging their encounter 5-4 in the first leg in Paris last week.

Bayern complained that the already-booked Nuno Mendes should have been booked again when the ball hit his arm, and there were more protests when Vitinha struck teammate João Neves’ arm with the ball in the penalty area with a clearance.

Jonathan Tah went closest for Bayern with a header wide before the break.

The winner will face Arsenal in the final in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30, after the Gunners defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

PSG and Bayern were the top-scoring sides in the competition with 43 and 42 goals before Wednesday’s game, respectively.

The German club has won five of its last seven meetings with PSG in Munich, and is going for a repeat of the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble of titles that it won in 2020 and 2013.

But PSG has good memories of Munich. The city was the scene of PSG’s triumph in the final last season when it demolished Inter Milan 5-0 to fulfill its Qatari owners’ quest to become European champion for the first time. A relatively unchanged team has been charged with delivering the second title.

FRANCE24 with AFP, AP

Liam Cameron has been working with a sports psychologist, hoping to strengthen his already robust mindset ahead of his light-heavyweight encounter with Brad Rea.

Anyone familiar with the Yorkshireman’s story will know it has taken no small amount of grit and tenacity for him to reach this stage in his life, let alone his fighting career.

And, because of this, Cameron knows how vitally important it is to maintain a strong mindset, especially in a sport like boxing.

By employing a sports psychologist, the 35-year-old has been able to gain a fresh perspective on the fear factor that comes with his chosen profession.

And this, he tells Boxing News, has only enabled him to better understand his reasoning for being involved in the hardest of sports.

“As humans, we complicate things. Our mind gets carried away; we overthink everything.

“As boxers, we need to have the mindset of a surfer: We can’t predict what waves are coming, but we’ve got to ride the wave when it’s there. We can’t think, ‘Oh, this wave’s too big’.

“[The sports psychologist] sent me a video of [actor] Will Smith jumping out of a plane. No one’s forcing Will Smith to get into that plane – just like, in boxing, no one’s forcing us to fight.

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“But all this fear builds up in our head and then, once we’ve jumped, the fear goes.

“So, [working with a mindset coach has] made me understand that I’m only boxing because I absolutely love it.”

While being reminded of his passion for the sport, Cameron is still riding the wave of his points victory over Troy Jones in November.

It was a somewhat debatable result, and perhaps not his greatest performance, but Cameron takes confidence from getting the job done with an injury.

“I took the fight on four weeks’ notice and had a really bad injury. Being the person I am, I thought, ‘There’s levels to this game. I can still beat this guy’.

“So I got in the ring while not being able to throw any power shots, or move my head, and I made it hard work for myself. But if I can do that while being properly injured, what am I going to be like now?

“It was a trapped nerve in my shoulder joint, but it was pulling on my neck. Not many people would’ve gone through a fight feeling like that.”

Indeed, Cameron is more capable than most when it comes to pushing through the pain barrier, even if it means producing a more workmanlike performance.

Having fully recovered from his injury, though, the former Commonwealth champion is now determined to showcase his technical prowess against Rea.

The pair will square off on May 9, featuring on the undercard of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena, where Cameron expects to take full advantage of Rea’s supposed defensive flaws.

“In this camp, we’ve been doing a lot of southpaw sparring, because we know Brad likes to switch [stances].

“But I grew up in Sheffield, where fighters are often southpaws, so I actually prefer [fighting] southpaws.

“I think Brad’s got the heart of a lion when he boxes, but I think that makes him not as good as he should be. He just ends up swinging, because he wants to win so bad.”

Believing he is a level above, Cameron expects to come through Rea, a former European champion, in convincing fashion, but is nonetheless prepared for waves of all shapes and sizes.

Skyhook affirmed his elite quality and lodged a serious claim for the Stradbroke Handicap by dictating terms for a stylish win in the Group 3 $250,000 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) held at Hawkesbury on Saturday.

Premier rider Josh Parr adhered meticulously to the blueprint from trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, guiding the bold chestnut to victory unchallenged in the Guineas.

“When Sterling and I were doing the form on the race on Thursday, we noticed there wasn’t a lot of early speed,” Ryan said.

“So, we decided to lead and take bad luck out of the equation. He won the Pago Pago Stakes last season when he led so we told Josh to ride him like the best horse in the race.

“Josh, who first rode for me 20 years ago, did everything right on Skyhook, it was a very good ride.

“It’s funny because a number of other jockeys knocked back the ride on Skyhook but when I saw Josh on a winner at Randwick last Saturday, I asked him to ride the colt – and I’m glad I did!”

At $3.40, Skyhook mastered his 58kg weight to triumph by 1.5 lengths ahead of Burma Star ($18), from Wootton Lass ($41) who was a half-length behind in third.

Despite firming to $2.70, Regal Award lacked the necessary punch and ended up fifth.

Ryan and Alexiou now harbour high hopes for the brilliant three-year-old’s assault on Brisbane’s autumn-winter carnival following Skyhook’s resurgence.

Skyhook could be aimed at the Group 1 $3 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 13, according to Ryan.

“Skyhook is a well-bred colt so you have to look at Group 1 options like the Doomben 10,000 (May 16),” Ryan said.

“But I believe this horse likes his races spaced and we might look at something like the (Group 3 $300,000) Fred Best Classic (1400m, Eagle Farm, May 30). If he wins that race, then he gets into the Stradbroke field.”

Skyhook advanced to $15 in Stradbroke betting markets, fourth favourite behind Angel Capital at $6.

For the best betting sites covering Skyhook in the Stradbroke Handicap, visit trusted Australian betting sites.

David Benavidez’s has shared his thoughts on Canelo Alvarez’s decision to not watch him as he knocked out Gilberto Ramirez on this past weekend’s big Cinco De Mayo card.

Benavidez dismantled ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez inside six rounds to capture the unified WBO and WBA cruiserweight world titles and become a three-division world champion.

In attendance was fierce rival Canelo, who has headlined on Cinco De Mayo for the past five years, but the 35-year-old opted to exit the arena before Benavidez’s performance of the year candidate.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Benavidez said it was a ‘shame’ Canelo did not stick around, believing that he may have ‘scared him away’.

“It was a shame that Canelo wasn’t able to watch that fight there because I think I might have scared him away. I am a bad dude, man. I’m a bad mother****a.”

Alvarez has maintained that he has no interest in fighting Benavidez, and instead, he was sat ringside watching former opponent Jaime Munguia, who recently signed with Team Canelo and Eddy Reynoso and claimed the WBA super-middleweight world title in the co-main event.

Continuing, Benavidez admitted that he has lost faith in his clash with Canelo ever taking place, despite calling his foe out in the post-fight interview.

“I don’t think that fight is ever going to happen, to be honest with you.”

Canelo is expected to return from injury in September and take on WBC super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli, with plans to reclaim the spot as the Cinco De Mayo headliner in 2027 and to do so as a reigning world champion.

Picture from SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026 game.© BCCI

Gerard Pique has been given a six-match ban and suspended from official football activity for two months by the Spanish football federation after an argument with a referee.

The former Spain and Barcelona star, who retired from playing in 2022, is now co-owner of FC Andorra and the dispute took place during his side’s 1-0 defeat by Albacete last week.

Referee Alonso de Ena Wolf quoted Pique in his post-match report, saying that he told him to “leave with an escort so nobody attacks you” and “in another country they would beat you up, but here in Andorra we are a civilised country”.

A disciplinary committee said that Pique’s two-month ban is “for notorious and public acts that undermine sporting dignity and decorum, based on the facts recorded in the referee’s report”.

The 39-year-old was also given a separate six-match ban “for acts involving minor violence toward the referees”.

Other members of Andorra’s staff were also involved in the confrontation.

Club president Ferran Vilaseca was issued a four-month suspension, while the sporting director Jaume Nogues was banned.

Andorra are currently 10th in the second division table.

Pique won nine La Liga titles and three Champions League trophies with Barcelona, and was part of Spain’s World Cup and European Championship wins in 2010 and 2012.