World Indoor Bowls Championships
"This page is about the World Indoor Bowls Championships. For the event organised by the World Bowls & the IIBC, see "'World Bowls Indoor Championships" The World Indoor Bowls Championship was first held in 1979 at Coatbridge in Scotland for men's singles only. The event was sponsored by Embassy in the early years and grew in stature. In 1988 the venue changed to Alexandra Palace and one year later Churchill Insurance took over the sponsorship when the championships were held at Preston Guild Hall. The Midland Bank and SAGA were two more sponsors during the Preston  era. In 1999 Potters Holidays came in to take over the sponsorship and the event moved to Potters Resort in Hopton-on-Sea, where it is still held today. The BBC also show live coverage of the championships during the last week which includes all four competition finals. The men's pairs started in 1986, the women's singles in 1988 and the mixed pairs in 2004. Both the men's singles and men's pairs changed to open singles and open pairs following the rule change which allowed women to compete in them. Alex Marshall from Scotland has won  the singles event a record six times. Fellow Scot Paul Foster is one win behind with five successes. World Indoor Men's/Open Singles Champions. Wins by individual (Open Singles only) Performance by country (Open singles only) World Indoor Men's/Open Pairs Champions. 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.