The World Indoor Championships, sponsored by ‘Just’, is being staged at the Potters Leisure resort in Hopton on Sea near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.
After the Open Pairs World Indoor Championship, the Ladies Open Singles World Matchplay, the Drawn Mixed Pairs World Matchplay and the World Indoor Under 25’s Championship, it’s now the turn of the world’s top players to contest the Men’s Singles World Indoor Championship.
The Potters Resort is to indoor bowls what Wembley is to football and Alexandra Palace is to darts. Players travel across the world to take part with the winner of the Open Singles Final to be presented with a Langham blue glass trophy and a cheque for £50,000 – bowls’ biggest prize.
Anderson bids for repeat
Scotland’s Stewart Anderson won his second open singles title last year after defeating qualifier Simon Skelton (33/1 with Bet365 this year) in the final.
Indoor Bowls Betting at betway
Bowls is often thought as a game for pensioners but Anderson is only 34 and first shot to prominence in the sport when making the final of the World Indoor Bowls in 2010. In the 1800s and into the 1900s, the outdoor version of the sport was a huge draw for gamblers, especially in the mill towns of the Pennines. Club matches can still attract crowds in their hundreds in the north of England and tickets for the World Indoor Championships are not easy to come by either.
Warehouse worker Anderson is a general 10/1 to retain his title in Norfolk over the next couple of weeks but this year’s tournament is well up to standard and there is stiff opposition.
Paul Foster, another Scot, is a five times champion at the Potters Resort. He’s also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and been awarded the MBE . The taxi owner from Troon owes a lot to the sport and is the 11/2 favourite for this year’s event with Paddy Power.
World Indoor Bowls Men’s Singles Winners Since 2007
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Can Foster equal Marshall’s record?
There has only been one overseas winner of the World Indoor Bowls Singles since its inception in 1979 – Australian Ian Schuback in 1992. Wales’ Robert Weale, in 2000, was the last winner who wasn’t either Scottish or English. Alex Marshall holds the record for the number of individual victories and he is a general 7/1 to win the tournament for a seventh time in 2020. Foster, however, can equal his total with victory.
David Gourlay is the son of David Gourlay Senior, the 1982 Commonwealth Gold medallist. Another Scot, he won the Indoor Bowls Singles title in 1996 and is 16/1 this year with betway, though probably better known as a pairs player nowadays.
The 2018 champion Mark Dawes is 18/1 with betway but if the title is to come back to England, bookmakers are suggesting that the host country’s best hope lies with Nick Brett. The 45-year-old from Peterborough beat Robert Paxton (a general 14/1) to win the 2016 crown on the blue carpet. He has also won the men’s pairs and mixed pairs at the Potters Resort in the last six years and is a general 8/1 for singles glory this year.
World Indoor Bowls Men’s Singles Current Best Odds*
Paul Foster 11/2
Nick Brett and Alex Marshall 8/1
Stewart Anderson and Greg Harlow 10/1
Darren Burnett, David Gourlay and Robert Paxton 14/1
Mark Dawes and Jamie Chestney 16/1
Mervyn King 18/1
Michael Stepney 20/1
Les Gillett 25/1
Mark Royal 28/1
Simon Skelton 33/1
Elliott Mason, Scott Edwards, Craig Rimmington, Scott Walker and Blake Nairn 50/1
Daniel Salmon 66/1
Colin Banks, Craig Harrison, Scott Jess and Craig Tinker 70/1
*(Odds correct at 3.05pm 13 January)
