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World Indoor Bowls Championships

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World Indoor Bowls Championships
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 World Indoor Bowls Championship
SportBowls
Founded1979
ContinentInternational (Professional Bowls Association / World Bowls Tour)
Most recent
champion(s)
2024 Open Singles
Scotland Stewart Anderson
2024 Women's Singles
England Katherine Rednall
2024 Open Pairs
Scotland Stewart Anderson &
Scotland Darren Burnett
2024 Mixed Pairs
EnglandNick Brett &
Scotland Julie Forrest
2024 under 25s singles
Scotland 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]

History

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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.

World Indoor Men's/Open Singles Champions

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Wins by individual (Open Singles only)

Name Titles Runners up Winning Years
Scotland Alex Marshall 6 2 1999, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2015
Scotland Paul Foster 5 2 1998, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2017
Scotland Richard Corsie 3 4 1989, 1991, 1993
England Andy Thomson 3 2 1994, 1995, 2012
England David Bryant 3 1 1979, 1980, 1981
Scotland Stewart Anderson 3 1 2013, 2019, 2024
England Tony Allcock 3 - 1986, 1987, 2002
Scotland Hugh Duff 2 1 1988, 1997
England Mark Dawes 2 - 2018, 2021
Wales John Price 1 3 1990
England Mervyn King 1 3 2006
England Greg Harlow 1 3 2010
Australia Ian Schuback 1 2 1992
England Robert Paxton 1 2 2020
Northern Ireland Jim Baker 1 1 1984
Scotland David Gourlay 1 1 1996
Wales Robert Weale 1 1 2000
England Nick Brett 1 1 2016
Scotland John Watson 1 - 1982
Scotland Bob Sutherland 1 - 1983
Wales Terry Sullivan 1 - 1985
England Billy Jackson 1 - 2009
Scotland Darren Burnett 1 - 2014
England Les Gillett 1 - 2022
England Jamie Walker 1 - 2023

Performance by country (Open singles only)

Country Titles Runners up Winning Players
Scotland Scotland 23 14 9
England England 18 16 11
Wales Wales 3 7 3
Australia Australia 1 3 1
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland 1 2 1
Hong Kong Hong Kong - 1 -
Israel Israel - 1 -
New Zealand New Zealand - 1 -
Canada Canada - 1 -
Total 46 46 25

World Indoor Women's Singles Champions

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World Indoor Men's/Open Pairs Champions

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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.

World Indoor Mixed Pairs Champions

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World Indoor Open Under 25 Champions

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Players with 5 or more titles

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Name Open singles Women's singles Open Pairs Mixed Pairs Total
Scotland Alex Marshall 6 N/A 6 2 14
Scotland Paul Foster 5 N/A 5 3 13
England Tony Allcock 3 N/A 8 - 11
England David Bryant 3 N/A 6 - 9
Scotland Stewart Anderson 3 N/A 3 2 8
Scotland/Australia David Gourlay 1 N/A 3 3 7
England Nick Brett 1 N/A 3 3 7
England Katherine Rednall - 6 - 1 7
England Andy Thomson 3 N/A 3 - 6
England Carol Ashby - 3 - 3 6
Scotland Richard Corsie 3 N/A 2 - 5
England Greg Harlow 1 N/A 3 1 5
Scotland Darren Burnett 1 N/A 3 1 5

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "OpticalMedia: Leading the Way in Sports Streaming with Over 4 Million Annual Views". OpticalMedia. 13 January 2024.
  2. ^ "World Indoor Bowls Championships 2018: Schedule and BBC coverage". BBC Sport. January 2018.
  3. ^ Newby, Donald (1989). Bowls Year Book 89. the Daily Telegraph. ISBN 0-330-31093-3.
  4. ^ "World Bowls at Potters: 'There's nowhere else I'd rather be'". BBC News. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Wales' Laura Daniels wins World Indoor Bowls final". BBC Sport. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Dawes And Chestney Win Second Open Pairs Title". Bowls International. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Julie Forrest: Borders bowler wins world championships title". Peebleshire News. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
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