2025 World Bowls Indoor Championship, 20–25 April 2025, Aberdeen Indoor Bowling Club, Aberdeen, Scotland – New world champions crowned

World Bowls Indoor Championship winners from left: Emily Kernick and Dominic McVittie (England) mixed pairs, Sophie McGrouther (Scotland) women’s singles and Jack McShane (Australia) men’s singles

 

Four new world champions have been crowned at the 2025 World Bowls Indoor Championship.

Jack McShane (Australia), Sophie McGrouther (Scotland) and Emily Kernick and Dominic McVittie (England) were the standout performers who clinched the sought-after trophies at the spectacular showcase of bowls staged at Aberdeen Indoor Bowls Club, Scotland.

Nineteen-year-old McShane – the youngest competitor in the field and highest World Bowls Series ranked male player in the event at No 3 – was crowned men’s singles winner, Scotland’s Sophie McGrouther, 21, current three time Under 25 singles champion took the honours in the women’s event and England representatives Emily Kernick and Dominic McVittie clinched the mixed pairs.

Interestingly, when added together, all the finalists ages add up to 149 – fascinating when you know the oldest competitor in the actual event – Maureen Caesar from Jamaica, turns 80 next week.

What’s more the two singles champions are younger than the winners of the World Bowls Under 25 Indoor Championship which was staged in Hong Kong, China, last December – Jack Nelson, of Australia, who clinched the men’s singles is 20 and Rebecca Rixon, who claimed the women’s singles, was 23, turning 24 just days after the tournament ended.

Staged at the impressive 12 rink stadium in Aberdeenshire, 64 bowlers from 32 countries around the globe have been bidding for world glory since Sunday which witnesses at total of 299 matches.

The World Bowls and International Indoor Bowls Council sanctioned event saw countries including Botswana, Norfolk Islands, Falkland Island, Cyprus, South Africa, Spain, Jamaica, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Macao, China competing, alongside the Home Nations – England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, plus the powerhouses of Australia and New Zealand.

It’s been an exciting six days with top class bowling none more so than the knockout stages when several of the ‘seeded’ competitors – former winners home favourite Stewart Anderson (WBS 15), Aussie legend Kelsey Cottrell (WBS 3), Guernsey’s Alison Merrien MBE (WBS 23) and Ireland’s Andrew Kyle endured a disappointing day on the carpet and failed to get through to the final day in the competitions leaving the door open for new names to be added to the prestigious honours boards. Defending champion Malaysia’s Nor Farah Ain Abudullah (current WBS 1) also failed to find the terrific form she enjoyed in Guernsey – she finished fourth in her group, winning only three matches.

Let’s take a look at how the world titles were won in the order the finals were played.

 

MIXED PAIRS

England’s Dominic McVittie played one of the best bowls at of the World Bowls Indoor Championship when he clinched victory for he and partner Emily Kernick (WBS 80) in the mixed pairs final against Wales’ Lauren Gowen (WBS 56) and Ross Owen (WBS 23), a bronze medallist in the World Bowls champion of champions in Auckland, 2024.

Scores were peeled in the first set after England finished the seven-end encounter strongly picking up a single and a double on the last two ends to tie matters 6-6. Wales must have thought they had one hand on the trophy when they led 5-2 going into the last end of the second set, but McVittie, a member of Spalding IBC, played a championship winning shot with the last bowl of the match to make a four and steal victory.

The English duo are the fourth winners of the mixed pairs event following in the footsteps of Suzanne and Mervyn King (2008), Annalise Dunham and Martin Spencer (2017) and Martin Puckett and Devon Cooper (2019) – Dunham and Spencer being clubmates of McVittie’s.

Both England and Wales had been unbeaten in their run to the final – no mean feat at such a high-level competition.

Bronze medallists were Scotland’s Claire Anderson and Stewart Anderson – the latter a winner in 2018 and 2022 and Guernsey’s Alison and Ian Merrien, former two times silver winners in the event, with Alison also being Stewart’s winning partner three years ago when they played in the Bristol staged competition being the defending singles champions.

 

WOMEN’S SINGLES

 

The Scottish crowd had plenty to celebrate with Sophie McGrouther won her maiden world title – the women’s singles.

McGrouther, who is just 21, joins an esteemed list of Scottish winners namely Betty Brown (2001), Julie Forrest (2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2022 and 2023), Margaret Letham (2005 and 2006) and Claire Johnston (2007).

She beat newly-crowned mixed pairs champion Emily Kernick, who is just 25, 4-6, 5-4, 6-0 in the final to clinch victory.

A member of Abbeyview BC, McGrouther’s route to the podium saw her lose just one out of six sectional games to the Norfolk Island’s Shae Wilson, before going on to beat the Isle of Man’s Caroline Whitehead in the play-off and then causing an upset knocking out Guernsey ace Alison Merrien MBE (WBS 23) to secure a place in the last four. In the semi-final, McGrouther pipped New Zealand’s highly-decorated Commonwealth, World and champion of champions medallist Tayla Bruce (WBS 18) on a measure on the last end of a tiebreak. Bruce sneaking the first set 5-4, McGrouther taking the second 6-4 and then 2-1 in the tiebreak.

Bruce and Merrien had been unbeaten in the group games winning all six of their round-robin matches.

Kernick, who bowls at Solihull IBC, was looking to bridge a nine-year gap of English success in the competition. She also lost just a single group game before she edged out Lauren Gowen (Wales) in the play-off on the last bowl of a tiebreak, Australia’s Kelsey Cottrell in the semi-final and defending country Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Binti Saroji to book her place in the final.

 

MEN’S SINGLES

 

There’s a new name on the men’s singles trophy – Jack McShane from Australia.

His hard-hitting drives sensualised the crowd watching the final against Dominic McVittie, who like Kernick had achieved a remarkable feat in reaching both the mixed pairs and singles finals.

But on this occasion, it was New South Wales’ McShane who emerged a 9-4, 7-2 winner.

McShane dropped one group game to the aforementioned Anderson, going on to record wins against Pete Bonsor (Spain) and Ireland’s Andrew Kyle before performing something of a Houdini escape against South Africa Masters gold medallist Jason Evans (WBS 37) in the semi-final. McShane, a member of Merrylands BC, scored a two and a three on the last two ends of the first set to tie it 5-5 before a similar get out of jail in the second set picking up a single and a two to get over the line 6-5 ending Evans’ hopes of being the first South African winner of the men’s event.

McVittie reached the final after finishing third in his group to Wales’ Ross Owen who he had also been runner-up to in the British Isles Indoor Bowls Council’s men’s singles just a month ago. In the play-off he was a tiebreak winner over the Isle of Man’s Mark McGreal, before he ended the hopes of Scottish singles champion Stewart Anderson to set-up a semi-final clash against Wales from which he emerged victorious 6-2, 5-3.

Four of the men’s qualifiers had returned winning scorecards from all seven of their group games – Owen, Anderson, Evans and Kyle.

Australia’s last victory in the competition was in 2023 when Aron Sherriff (WBS 2) was successful.

 

PRESENTATIONS

 

The presentations were made by World Bowls CEO Neil Dalrymple and IIBC president Gordon Woods. MC was tournament director.

In addition to the world titles, World Bowls Series ranking points are up for grabs, plus the winners of the men’s and women’s singles will also receive an invitation to compete at the World Bowls Tour World Indoor Bowls Championships at Potters Resorts in January 2026.

 

Full World Bowls Indoor Championship results are available at the World Bowls match centre: Results portal

For full player list, roll of honour and more event information, see programme book:  Programme

 

RESULTS

 

MIXED PAIRS

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

Section 1: 1. England (E Kernick and D McVittie) 12 pts; 2. Ireland (Z Minish and A Kyle) 9; 3. Macao, China (P Lai and J Ng) 6; 4. I Hodgetts and R Macdonald) 3; 5 Japan (S Abiru and T Ohira) 0.

Section 2: 1. Israel/Scotland (B Markus and K Watt) 12; 2. Netherlands/Scotland (J Sinnema and A Mowat) 9; 3. France (P Piguet and C Royet) 6; 4. Namibia (C Steenkamp and D Viljoen); 5. Botswana (A Fuller and G Kieni) 0.

Section 3: 1. Wales (L Gowen and R Owen) 12; 2. New Zealand (T Bruce and K Darby) 9; 3. Hong Kong, China (A Lai and A So); 4. Spain (L Bonsor and P Bonsor) 3; 5. Isle of Man (C Whitehead and M McGreal) 0.

Section 4: 1. Scotland (C Anderson and S Anderson) 12; 2. South Africa (E Kruger and J Evans) 9; 3. Hungary and Scotland (G Foti and K Rendall) 6; 4. Jamaica (M Caesar and R Simpson) 3; 5. Switzerland (C Lehmann and B Matti) 0.

Section 5: 1. Australia (K Cottrell and J McShane) 12; 2. Guernsey (A Merrien MBE and I Merrien) 12; 3 Norfolk Island (T Sheridan and S Wilson) 9; 4. Malta (P Ellul and C Rixon) 6; 5. Malaysia/Sweden (N Abdullah and O Backgren) 3; 6. Pakistan/Scotland (M Quershi and L Roddie) 3.

Section 6: 1. Cyprus (S Robertson and L Paraskeva) 12; 2 Malaysia (M Azami and E Saroji) 12; 3. Turkiye (R Akar and O Akar) 9; 4. Falkland Island/Scotland (Oliver Thompson and S McGrouther) 6; 5. Canada (L Ng and M McNorton) 3; 6. USA (G Gallo and B Brault) 3.

PLAY-OFF: Scotland bt Netherlands/Scotland 11-6, 11-5; Ireland bt South Africa 7-7, 9-5; Guernsey bt New Zealand 5-6, 14-2, 5-3; Australia bt Malaysia 9-1, 7-5.

QUARTER-FINALS: Scotland bt Cyprus 8-6, 16-2; England bt Australia 9-2, 7-5; Guernsey bt Scotland/Israel 8-1, 9-3; Wales bt Ireland 8-3, 4-3.

SEMI-FINALS: Wales bt Guernsey 7-0, 6-3; England bt Scotland 2-7, 6-5, 3-2.

FINAL: England bt Wales 6-6, 6-5.

 

WOMEN’S SINGLES

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

Section 1: Guernsey (A Merrien MBE) 18 pts: 2. Scotland (C Anderson) 12; 3. South Africa (Kruger) 9; 4. Malaysia (Nor Farah Ain Abdullah) 9; 5. Hong Kong, China (Ada Lai) 9; 6. Cyprus (Soledad Robinson) 6; Macao, China (Pian Lai) 0.

Section 2: 1. Australia (K Cottrell) 15; 2. Malta (C Rixon) 15; 3. Jersey (R Macdonald) 12; 4. Turkiye (R Akar) 9; 5. Canada (L Ng) 6. USA (G Gallo) 3; 7. Namibia (D Viljoen) 3.

Section 3: 1. New Zealand (T Bruce) 18; 2. England (E Kernick) 15; 3. Isle of Man (C Whitehead) 12; 4. Ireland (Z Minish) 9; 5. Switzerland (C Lehmann) 6; 6. France (C Royet) 3; 7. Jamaica (M Caesar) 0.

Section 4: 1. Malaysia (E Saroji) 15; 2. Scotland 2 (Sophie McGrouther) 15; 3. Wales (L. Gowen) 12; 4. Norfolk Island (S Wilson) 12; 5. Spain (L Bonsor) 6; 6. Japan (S Abiru) 3; 7. Botswana (A Fuller) 0.

Play-offs: England bt Wales 5-4, 3-5, 2-1; Scotland bt Jersey 9-1, 4-9, 6-0; Scotland 2 bt Isle of Man 9-5, 14-0; South Africa bt Malta 9-4, 7-2, 2-1.

Quarter-finals: Malaysia bt South Africa 7-4, 8-1; New Zealand bt Scotland 7-1, 3-6, 4-0; England bt Australia 5-4, 7-5; Scotland 2 bt Guernsey 4-6, 9-1, 4-0.

Semi-finals: Scotland 2 bt New Zealand 5-4, 6-4, 2-1; England bt Malaysia 6-1, 9-1.

Final: Scotland 2 bt England 4-6, 5-4, 6-0.

 

MEN’S SINGLES

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

Section 1: 1. Ireland (A Kyle) 21; 2. Isle of Man (M McGreal) 15; 3. Guernsey (I Merrien) 15; 4. Israel (B Markus) 12; 5. Turkiye (O Akar) 6. Canada (M McNorton) 6; 7. Norfolk Island (T Sheridan) 6; 8. Sweden (O Backgren) 3.

Section 2: 1. Wales (R Owen) 21; 2. New Zealand (K Darby) 18; 3. England (D McVittie) 15; 4. USA (B Brault) 9; 5. Cyprus (L Paraskeva) 9; 6. Hungary (G Foti) 6; 7. Jamaica (R Simpson) 3; 8 France (P Piguet) 3.

Section 3: South Africa (J Evans) 21; 2. Malaysia (M Azami) 18; 3. Spain (P Bonsor) 15; 4. Malta (P Ellul) 12; 5. Jersey (I Hodgetts) 9; 6. Falkland Islands (O Thompson) 6; 7. Switzerland (B Matti) 3; 8. Botswana (G Nagata Kieni) 0.

Section 4: 1. Scotland (S Anderson) 21; 2. Australia (J McShane) 18; 3. Hong Kong, China (A So) 15; 4. Namibia (C Steenkamp) 9; 5. Macao, China (Johnny Ng) 9; 6. Pakistan (A Qureshi) 6; 7. Japan (T Ohira) 6; 8. Netherlands (J Sinnema) 0.

Play-off: England bt Isle of Man 6-9, 8-1, 6-0; Australia bt Spain 9-4, 7-4; Guernsey bt New Zealand 8-5, 9-4; Hong Kong, China bt Malaysia 10-1, 9-6.

Quarter-finals: Australia bt Ireland 5-4, 3-6, 3-1; Wales bt Hong Kong, China 8-2, 8-4; England bt Scotland 9-4, 6-3; South Africa bt Guernsey 7-4, 3-8, 4-1.

Semi-finals: England bt Wales 6-2, 5-3; Australia bt South Africa 5-5, 6-5.

Final: Australia bt England 9-4, 7-2.

Report compiled by media officer – Ceris Hewlings ceris.hewlings@keypublishing.com