History has been made on day one of the 2026 World Bowls Indoor Championship at Ocean Grove Bowling Club on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia.
Croatia has made its debut at a World Bowls event.
Slavko Perica, 71, is representing his home country in the event which sees 33 member nations of World Bowls competing at the 24th edition of the indoor showcase.
The five-day event also sees five other countries – China (Yong Min Mao and Xu (Sophia) Jing), Fiji (Parmeswan Padayachi and Sheryl Mar), India (Putul Sonowal and Nayan Moni Saikia), Niue (Stanley Tafatu and Josephine Peyrous) and Sri Lanka (Sandun Wimalasena and Kumari Mangos) making first appearances in this particular competition. And we must give a special mention to Sophia Jing who now lives in Melbourne, but hails from the Anshan area of China and came to the rescue of her native country after their female player encountered visa problems only 36 hours before the competition was due to begin jumping at the chance to realise her dream of playing for her country.
Up for grabs are three of the most coveted trophies in World Bowls – the men’s and women’s singles and mixed pairs, plus platinum World Bowls Series ranking list points.
Defending champions Jack McShane (Australia) and Sophie McGrouther (Scotland) enjoyed a successful first day in defence of their 2025 titles with both recording 100 per cent records – McShane overcoming 2024 bronze medallist New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy and China’s Yong Min Mao, both 2-0, before a tiebreak finish against the USA’s Tom Richeson and McGrouther beating Isle of Man’s Caroline Whitehead and New Zealand’s Tayla Bruce resulting in them both topping their groups.
In the men’s event, Ozkan Akar from Turkiye and Canada’s Pat Bird won two out of two matches in section one, while McShane tops section two – probably one of the toughest in the competition which features India’s Sonwal Putul and New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy and Ireland’s Adam McKeown both of whom have been selected for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Wales’ Carl Wood and Malta’s Shaun Parnis hold first place in section three and four respectively.
In the women’s singles, Alison Merrien MBE, of Guernsey, who is bidding to win the title for the fifth time heads section one with an unblemished record from her two games, while enjoying the same feat in section two are Canada’s Joanna Cooper and World Bowls Indoor Junior Championship singles winner in 2024, Malta’s Rebecca Rixon, one of her victories a 2-0 win over Scotland’s serial winner, Julie Forrest. McGrouther leads section three, with Australia’s Kelsey Cottrell and South Africa’s Elma Louw top of section four.
The mixed pairs meanwhile sees Spain, Canada, Macao China, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, England – the defending nation – and Jersey/Australia as the early table toppers.
Australia has kindly provided four additional female players to participate in the mixed pairs to ensure all countries have a partner and Sophie Kurtzman playing with Oliver Thompson from the Falkland Islands, Chloe Morrison partnering the aforementioned Croatian Slavko Perica, Hayley O’Reilly and Sweden’s Pontus Palmvist and Lisa Phillips and Jersey’s Josh Bands took scalps from New Zealand, Canada, the defending singles champions and Japan and India respectively.
Sectional play in the three events continues until Friday when the knockout rounds begin culminating in finals day on Saturday.
Follow live scores, results and draw throughout the event on the official World Bowls Match Centre.
Results and Draw: https://tinyurl.com/4catzhm2
Watch live all day on World Bowls TV: https://www.youtube.com/@world_bowls/live
