A FORMER Okehampton College pupil, Robert Paxton, has been crowned Ambassador Cruise Line 2026 World Indoor Bowls Championships open singles champion.

It’s the second time Robert, 47, who plays indoors at the Exonia Club in Exeter and outdoors with Crediton Bowling Club, has clinched the title – his maiden victory six years ago.

In a dramatic final on Sunday, January 25 at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk, Paxton, the sales manager at Crediton bowls shop, Bond Bowls, beat Scotland’s Paul Foster MBE, making up for the disappointment at losing in the final 12 months ago.

It was a thrilling match which saw both sets tied – 11-11 and 8-8 (the first time that score has occurred since the competition was first played in 1979), before Paxton won the title with the last bowl of the match 2-1.

The win means Paxton has six WBT titles to his name – two singles, one open pairs, two mixed pairs and one Scottish International Open.

In the final set Paxton, the World Bowls Tour’s No 3 seed, took the first end. Foster replied clinching the second, before Paxton played the bowl of his life to clinch the title with the final bowl of the game.Robert was champion in 2020 and this was his fifth WBT final appearance.

Robert began his 2026 open singles campaign with a win over Israel’s Zvika Hadar, then beat fellow Englishman Mervyn King, before advancing to the semi-final over Dolphin IBC qualifier Martin Puckett and finally an epic tiebreak thriller against Scotland’s No 10 seed and 2014 champion Darren Burnett.

Champion in 1998, 2001, 2005, 2011 and 2017, Foster had been looking to lift the title for a sixth time.

Paxton, who receives £50,000 prize money, described the final as a “a school fight” but said he was “over the moon” to win.