World Bowls has an important update to its inaugural World Cup.

Bowls Malaysia is to host the first ever 12-country competition taking place in November 2025.

The event, a platinum event in the World Bowls Series calendar, will be played at Bukit Kiara National Lawn Bowl Centre – the highly-acclaimed bowls venue which staged the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

In making the change of host announcement, Neil Dalrymple, CEO of World Bowls said: “The inaugural World Cup will now be played indoors in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 4-8, 2025, as a preparation event for the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“This decision has been made following discussions with some participating MNAs given that 10 of the 12 nations are Commonwealth members and their high-performance focus is on playing indoors.

“The World Cup will be played entirely indoors, which may include portable rinks with the same design as those likely to be used in the Glasgow games.”

He added: “We are delighted to have the support of the Malaysian Government and Bowls Malaysia to make this happen.

“Huge thanks to the Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association for being flexible and kindly agreeing to move their World Cup hosting to November 2026 when the event will be played outdoors as preparation for World Bowls 2027 which will also be played outdoors.

“It is exciting to have both World Cups in Asia, one of our fastest growing regions.”

Twelve countries will participate in the World Cup – the host country, Malaysia, plus the 11th highest overall countries from the 2023 World Championships – Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, China, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, USA and Wales.

Format is six person teams – two open women, two open men, two physical or VI paras (one of each gender) who will be competing in singles and pairs making seven events in total.

Playing dates for the championships remain the same – Tuesday-Saturday, November 4-8, with live streaming coverage to occur on each day of play.

For more information about the new venue, see: National Lawn Bowl Centre – Official Portal Perbadanan Stadium Malaysia

For more information, contact Neil Dalrymple, World Bowls CEO, ceo@worldbowls.com or Ceris Hewlings, World Bowls media officer ceris.hewlings@keypublishing.com