World Bowls has crowned two brand new champion of champions winners.
Ireland’s David Copeland and Shae Wilson from Norfolk Island – congratulations you are the men’s and women’s champion of champions for 2025.
In the women’s flagship match, Shae Wilson was a 9-3, 8-4 winner over Debra White from New Zealand who picked up her second silver medal in this competition.
Bronze went to England’s Izzie White – joint youngest competitor in the event at the age of 23 – and Ireland’s Shauna O’Neill, the 2023 winner of the World Bowls Junior Indoor Championship singles and mixed pairs and current British Bowls women’s gold medallist.
In the men’s showpiece, David Copeland beat Fiji’s Rajnesh Prasad 7-2, 6-4.
Bronze medallists were pre-tournament favourite, 2014 winner Iain McLean from Scotland, World Bowls Series’ No 7, and Canada’s Owen Kirby.
O’Neill and McLean have already booked their place in next year’s event winning their national singles titles back-to-back.
A platinum event on the World Bowls Series rankings calendar, the tournament will be back at cluBarham, October 6-11, 2026, but before then the club will host the WBS finals, December 9-12.
Back to this year’s competition and three Oceania member nations contested the finals – New Zealand, Norfolk Island and Fiji, while the fourth nation was also an island – Ireland who had the bragging rights for being the only country clinching two medals.
Fifty-seven players – 26 men and 31 women – representing 33 nations around the globe travelled to cluBarham, NSW, Australia, with their sights set on winning the ultimate prize in bowls.
The format – two sets of seven ends, with a three-end tiebreak if needed – was played out on two nine-rink synthetic carpet greens running at between 12 and 14 seconds at the Riverdome complex on the banks of the River Murray.
This year’s edition is the 21st in history.
The annual event was first staged at Moama, around 190 kilometres to the east of cluBarham.
Let’s take a look at how the champions were crowned in the order of the finals being played.
WOMEN’S SINGLES
Twenty-six-year-old Shae Wilson, a member of Norfolk Island Bowling Club, has been playing bowls since 2014 – incidentally the same year Scotland’s Iain McLean, a bronze medallist in this event this year was the champion.
A bronze medallist in 2019, when her opponent in this final, Debra White won silver, Wilson’s route to the podium saw her top her section winning seven out of 11 games and winning one more set than her nearest rival, Malaysia’s Syafiqu Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman.
In the quarter-final, she was an 8-2, 5-8, 2-1 winner over Thailand’s Thassaow Phandaech before returning a 7-6, 8-6 scorecard against England’s Izzie White to reach the final.
White, bidding to be the fifth Kiwi victor following in the footsteps of Jan Khan (2010), Jo Edwards (2011 and 2018), Sandra Keith (2012) and Tayla Bruce (2022), meanwhile lost just one of her nine group games as she stamped her authority on her group amassing 24 points.
A quarter-final encounter against Malta’s reigning World Bowls Junior Indoor Championship women’s singles winner Rebecca Rixon, 25, saw 62-year-old White, a member of Hinuera Bowling Club, emerge 7-6, 6-2 to the good before a nerve-wracking tiebreak against Ireland’s Shauna O’Neill saw her get over the line 1-8, 8-6, 3-2 and end Ireland’s hopes of having its two players in the grand finals. O’Neill was bidding to be the second Irish winner after Margaret Johnson in 2004.
In the final, Wilson delivered a dominant performance recording a 9-3, 8-4 victory with an end to spare in both sets to clinch the gold medal and winner’s trophy – a dream come true moment and a proud achievement for her and Norfolk Island.
Norfolk Island which hosted the event in 2010 – four years before Wilson even started bowling is now the 14th nation to appear on the champion of champions roll of honour across both disciplines.
Wilson’s World Bowls title adds to her CV which features representing her country at two Commonwealth Games, two World Championships, three World Bowls Indoor Championships, two Hong Kong Classics, the Golden Nugget, Pacific Games and Oceania Challenge.
MEN’S SINGLES
Forty-five-year-old David Copeland, a member of Dunbarton Bowling Club, reached the final after his hopes of lifting the silverware looked bleak after two days of play and only two wins to his name.
A big day three saw him finishing third in his group after sitting in eighth place at the half-way stage.
Wins against the USA, India and South Africa propelled him up the ladder and he qualified for the knockout stages with 15 points and five wins under his belt.
In the quarter-finals, he eliminated home favourite Australia’s Jacob Nelson in a tight encounter 5-4, 5-4, before a British Isles tussle against Scottish colleague McLean in the semi-final which saw both players share both the first and second sets, 6-6, 7-7 respectively, before clinching a 4-1 tiebreak win. The pair had met in the sectional rounds when McLean took the win on his way to setting the pace and sealing first place.
Fifty-year-old Prasad, who belongs to the Sheraton Bowling Club, meanwhile finished second in his group also chalking up five wins and amassing 15 points. He beat India’s Putul Sonowal 1-6, 10-2, 3-1 in the quarter-finals before accounting for Owen Kirby, of Canada, on another tiebreaker 2-8, 6-5, 4-1 in the semi-final.
In the grand final, Copeland showed grit and determination to win in straight sets 7-2 (in six ends) and 6-4.
ITOs Sharon Lynch and Rodney Bates had the honour of marking the women’s and men’s finals respectively. They were two of a team of 15 ITOs involved in the tournament overseen by Chief ITO John Roberts. Tournament director was Mark Cowan.
The presentations were made by Neil Dalrymple, CEO, World Bowls, Jason Wallace, CEO, cluBarham, Steve Fullerton, chair of directors, cluBarham, and Clr Neil Gorey, Deputy Mayor of Murray River Council who also performed the tossing of the coin at the start of the men’s final.
A commemorative plaque was presented to cluBarham’s Steve Fullerton by Neil Dalrymple.
Each evening at 6 pm during the World Bowls champion of champions play paused at cluBarham as players, officials and supporters observed the Ode of Remembrance. A moment of silence to reflect and honour.
RESULTS
FINAL SECTION STANDINGS
MEN’S SECTION
Section 1: 1. Malaysia (Amirul Danial Abdul Rahim) 24 points (14 sets); 2. Thailand (Naret Aiangetuen) 18 (7); 3. Wales (Carl Wood) 15 (11); 4. Tonga (Nicky Third) 15 (8); 5. Hong Kong China (Ka Ho Lee) 12 (8); 6. Japan (Hisaharu Sato) 9 (7); 7. Cook Islands (Ngatuakana Ahfo Junior Anthony) 9 (6); 8. Jersey (Malcolm De Sousa) 6 (7); 9. China (Ye Yaochun) 0 (1).
Section 2: 1. Australia (Jacob Nelson) 18 (11); 2. Fiji (Rajnesh Prasad) 15 (11); 3. Canada (Owen Kirby) 15 (8); 4. Spain (Graham Shoots) 12 (6); 5. Singapore (Mus Effendi Musa) 9 (6); 6. Malta (Troy Lorimer) 9 (5); 7. Switzerland (Thomas Walti) 3 (4); 8. Botswana (Modisaotsile Mphotho) 3 (3).
Section 3: 1. Scotland (Iain McLean) 21 (14); 2. India (Putul Sonowal) 21 (13); 3. Ireland (David Copeland) 15 (6); 4. South Africa (Brendan Ferns) 12 (8); 5. Turkiye (Ozkan Akar) 12 (6); 6. Niue (Stanley Tafatu) 9 (5); 7. USA (Charlie Herbert) 6 (7); 8. Sweden (Lars Olov Backgren) 6 (4); 9. Namibia (Allan Langenstrassen) 6 (3).
PLAY-OFFS
Canada bt Wales 3-9, 7-4, 3-0.
QUARTER-FINALS
Fiji bt India 1-6, 10-2, 3-1; Canada bt Malaysia 5-6, 7-5, 2-1; Ireland bt Australia 5-4, 5-4; Scotland bt Thailand 7-3, 2-8, 3-1.
SEMI-FINALS
Fiji bt Canada 2-8, 6-5, 4-1; Ireland bt Scotland 6-6, 7-7, 4-1.
FINAL
Ireland bt Fiji 7-2, 6-4.
WOMEN’S SECTION
Section 1: 1. Norfolk Island (Shae Wilson) 21 points (13 sets won); 2. Malaysia (Syafiqu Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman) 21 (12); 3. Ireland (Shauna O’Neill) 18 (13); 4. Australia (Chloe Stewart) 18 (10); 5 Switzerland (Marianne Kuenzle) 18 (9); 6. USA (Giulia Gallo) 18 (7); 7. India (Nayan Moni Saikia) 15 (10); Spain (Lisa Bonsor) 12 (9); 9. Cook Islands (Tiare Tapita Jim) 12 (6); 10. Singapore (Philomena Goh) 6 (5); 11. China (Yu Qiaohan) 6 (4).
Section 2: 1. New Zealand (Debra White) 24 (12); 2. England (Izzie White) 21 (13); 3. Thailand’s (Thaddaow Phandaech) 18 (10); 4. Japan (Keiko Kurohara) 18 (8); 5. Philippines (Ainie Knight) 15 (6); 6. Zimbabwe (Caryn Sinclair) 12 (6); 7. Turkiye (Rahsan Akar) 9 (6); 8. Wales (Bethan Russ) 9 (4); 9. Namibia (Yvonne Carstens) 6 (8); 10. Fiji (Sheryl Edwards) 3 (6).
Section 3: 1. Hong Kong China (Gloria Ha) 24 (12 sets/13 set points); 2. Malta (Rebecca Rixon) 24 (12/12); 3. South Africa (Bridget Herselman) 21 (10/12); 4. Scotland (Jaclyn Neil) 18 (9/10.50); 5. Tonga (Milika Nathan) 15 (10/10.50); 6. Sri Lanka (Kumari Mangos) 12 (8/9); 7. Canada (Betty Van Walleghem) 6 (10/10); 8. Niue (Catherine Papani) 6 (6/6); 9. Botswana (Gaoromelwe Pelemo) 6 (5/5.50); 10. Argentina (Anette Wyss) 3 (1/1.50).
PLAY-OFFS
Thailand bt South Africa 6-6, 6-3
QUARTER-FINALS
England bt Malaysia 6-5, 2-8, 4-0; Norfolk Island bt Thailand 8-2, 5-8, 2-1; Ireland bt Hong Kong, China 10-1, 8-8; New Zealand bt Malta 7-6, 6-2.
SEMI-FINALS
Norfolk Island bt England 7-6, 8-6; New Zealand bt Ireland 8-1, 8-6, 3-2.
FINAL
Norfolk Island bt New Zealand 9-3, 8-4.
For full tournament results and tables, see https://bit.ly/4mATPjq
For the streamed games, see https://www.youtube.com/@world_bowls?sub_confirmation=1
For photo gallery, see https://www.worldbowls.com/2025-world-bowls-champion-of-champions/
Report compiled by: Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer, ceris.hewlings@keypublishing.com
