Current season, competition or edition: 2025 World Indoor Bowls Championship | |
Sport | Bowls |
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Founded | 1979 |
Continent | International (Professional Bowls Association / World Bowls Tour) |
Most recent champion(s) | 2024 Open Singles Stewart Anderson 2024 Women's Singles Katherine Rednall 2024 Open Pairs Stewart Anderson & Darren Burnett 2024 Mixed Pairs Nick Brett & Julie Forrest 2024 under 25s singles Darren Weir |
TV partner(s) | BBC Two, YouTube |
The World Indoor Bowls Championship is an international bowls competition held annually at Potters Resorts in Hopton on Sea.
In recent history matches are streamed live on YouTube & Facebook, attracting around four million views annually. [1] The last week of the competition is televised live on BBC where the open singles and open pairs', women's singles and mixed pairs' finals are shown. [2]
The competition was first held in 1979 in Coatbridge, Scotland as a men's singles only event. The first event was sponsored by Embassy Cigarettes.
In 1986, the men's pairs competition was added to the championship. [3] In 1988, a rule change allowed women to compete for the first time and the women's singles competition was created. This rule change also changed expanded the men's singles and pairs competition and both become open tournaments.
In 1989, the championships moved to the Guild Hall in Preston, England and Churchill Insurance took over the sponsorship. While the competition was being held in Preston, Midland Bank and SAGA were also sponsors at various times.
In 1999, Potters Holidays took over the sponsorship and, as part of the agreement, the event moved to its current home at the company's resort in Hopton-on-Sea. [4] The mixed pairs competition was added to the championship in 2004.
Wins by individual (Open Singles only)
Name | Titles | Runners up | Winning Years | |
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Alex Marshall | 6 | 2 | 1999, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2015 | |
Paul Foster | 5 | 2 | 1998, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2017 | |
Richard Corsie | 3 | 4 | 1989, 1991, 1993 | |
Andy Thomson | 3 | 2 | 1994, 1995, 2012 | |
David Bryant | 3 | 1 | 1979, 1980, 1981 | |
Stewart Anderson | 3 | 1 | 2013, 2019, 2024 | |
Tony Allcock | 3 | - | 1986, 1987, 2002 | |
Hugh Duff | 2 | 1 | 1988, 1997 | |
Mark Dawes | 2 | - | 2018, 2021 | |
John Price | 1 | 3 | 1990 | |
Mervyn King | 1 | 3 | 2006 | |
Greg Harlow | 1 | 3 | 2010 | |
Ian Schuback | 1 | 2 | 1992 | |
Robert Paxton | 1 | 2 | 2020 | |
Jim Baker | 1 | 1 | 1984 | |
David Gourlay | 1 | 1 | 1996 | |
Robert Weale | 1 | 1 | 2000 | |
Nick Brett | 1 | 1 | 2016 | |
John Watson | 1 | - | 1982 | |
Bob Sutherland | 1 | - | 1983 | |
Terry Sullivan | 1 | - | 1985 | |
Billy Jackson | 1 | - | 2009 | |
Darren Burnett | 1 | - | 2014 | |
Les Gillett | 1 | - | 2022 | |
Jamie Walker | 1 | - | 2023 |
Performance by country (Open singles only)
Country | Titles | Runners up | Winning Players |
---|---|---|---|
Scotland | 23 | 14 | 9 |
England | 18 | 16 | 11 |
Wales | 3 | 7 | 3 |
Australia | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Hong Kong | - | 1 | - |
Israel | - | 1 | - |
New Zealand | - | 1 | - |
Canada | - | 1 | - |
Total | 46 | 46 | 25 |
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The Men's Pairs (now Open Pairs) allows women to compete, this is not to be confused with the Mixed Pairs. It was a men's only competition until 2012.
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Name | Open singles | Women's singles | Open Pairs | Mixed Pairs | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alex Marshall | 6 | N/A | 6 | 2 | 14 |
Paul Foster | 5 | N/A | 5 | 3 | 13 |
Tony Allcock | 3 | N/A | 8 | - | 11 |
David Bryant | 3 | N/A | 6 | - | 9 |
Stewart Anderson | 3 | N/A | 3 | 2 | 8 |
/ David Gourlay | 1 | N/A | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Nick Brett | 1 | N/A | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Katherine Rednall | - | 6 | - | 1 | 7 |
Andy Thomson | 3 | N/A | 3 | - | 6 |
Carol Ashby | - | 3 | - | 3 | 6 |
Richard Corsie | 3 | N/A | 2 | - | 5 |
Greg Harlow | 1 | N/A | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Darren Burnett | 1 | N/A | 3 | 1 | 5 |
These are the premier International Bowls Events between national bowls organisations affiliated to World Bowls, the PBA, World Bowls Tour and the IIBC.
The 2013 World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, in January 2013.
Stewart Anderson is a Scottish international bowls player and a world champion indoors.
Darren William Burnett is a Scottish lawn bowler and indoor bowler.
The 2008 World Indoor Bowls Championships was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-27 January 2008. The event was sponsored by Potters Holidays.
Alex Marshall won the men's singles defeating Ian Bond in the final achieving a record fifth title. Despite the fact that a women's singles tournament was held Ceri Ann Davies also competed in the men's singles competition, and became the first woman to win matches in the final stages of the event with victories over Glenn Skipp in the preliminary round, and Jamie Hill in the first round.
The 2007 World Indoor Bowls Championships was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-28 January 2007. The event was sponsored by Potters Holidays.
Alex Marshall won the men's singles defeating Mervyn King in the final achieving a record fourth title. Marshall won the title despite carrying a back injury and being seeded only seventh.
The 2002 Potters Holidays World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-26 January 2002.
In the singles Tony Allcock completed a shock victory. Unseeded and unfancied the Englishman’s win equalled the record of three title wins by David Bryant and Richard Corsie.
In the pairs Hugh Duff & Paul Foster defeated Greg Harlow & Graham Robertson in the final.
The 2015 Just Retirement World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 09-25 January 2015. The men's singles title was won for a record-extending sixth time by Scotland's Alex Marshall, who beat Andy Thomson in the final.
Robert Paxton & Simon Skelton won their first Pairs title, stopping Alex Marshall & Paul Foster from winning a fourth title.
Robert Paxton & Marion Purcell won their first Mixed Pairs title, stopping Paul Foster & Laura Thomas from winning a third consecutive title.
Laura Thomas won her first title, defeating defending champion Katherine Rednall in the final.
The 2000 Potters Holidays World World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 10–23 January 2000, with the pairs following on from 26 to 29 January 2000.
Greg Harlow is an English international indoor bowls player.
The 2016 Just Retirement World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 08-24 January 2016.
Nick Brett won the blue riband event for the first time after beating Robert Paxton in a competitive final. In the Open Pairs Stewart Anderson and Darren Burnett recorded their first title success. Burnett doubled up by winning the Mixed Pairs title with Katherine Rednall. Ellen Falkner won the Women's Singles defeating Rebecca Field in the final. This was Falkner's third title and was achieved ten years after her last success.
The 2017 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, on 13–29 January 2017.
The 2018 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship took place at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, on 12–28 January 2018.
The 2019 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 10–27 January 2019. The event is organised by the World Bowls Tour.
The 2020 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 9–26 January 2020. The event was organised by the World Bowls Tour and televised by the BBC.
The 2021 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship took place at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 8–24 January 2021. The event was organised by the World Bowls Tour, televised by the BBC and streamed live on YouTube. The event was played behind closed doors and there was no under-25 competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence of the pandemic there were no overseas players involved.
The 2022 Just World Indoor Bowls Championship took place at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 7–23 January 2022. The event is organised by the World Bowls Tour, and will be televised by the BBC and streamed live on YouTube.
This page is about the World Bowls Tour Championships.
The 2024 World Indoor Bowls Championship was the 2024 edition of the World Indoor Bowls Championship, held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 5-21 January 2024. The event is organised by the World Bowls Tour and will be televised by the BBC and YouTube. The event is being sponsored for the second consecutive year by Imagine Cruising.
The 2025 World Indoor Bowls Championship is the 2025 edition of the World Indoor Bowls Championships, held at Potters Resorts, Hopton-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 10 to 26 January 2025.