World Indoor Bowls Championships

The World Indoor Bowls Championship is an international bowls competition held annually at Potters Resorts in Hopton on Sea.
In recent history matches are streamed live on YouTube & Facebook, attracting around four million views annually. The last week of the competition is televised live on BBC where the open singles and open pairs', women's singles and mixed pairs' finals are shown.

History

The competition was first held in 1979 in Coatbridge, Scotland as a men's singles only event. The first event was sponsored by Embassy Cigarettes.
In 1986, the men's pairs competition was added to the championship. In 1988, a rule change allowed women to compete for the first time and the women's singles competition was created. This rule change also changed expanded the men's singles and pairs competition and both become open tournaments.
In 1989, the championships moved to the Guild Hall in Preston, England and Churchill Insurance took over the sponsorship. While the competition was being held in Preston, Midland Bank and SAGA were also sponsors at various times.
In 1999, Potters Holidays took over the sponsorship and, as part of the agreement, the event moved to its current home at the company's resort in Hopton-on-Sea. The mixed pairs competition was added to the championship in 2004.