East Lothian bowling icon Alex ‘Tattie’ Marshall will begin his quest on Tuesday to extend his remarkable record to six titles in the Just Retirement-sponsored World Indoor Singles Championships.

The World Singles Championship is the flagship event of a two-week festival of world-class bowls at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton-on-Sea, from January 9 to 25, which also includes the World Indoor Pairs Championship, the Ladies World Matchplay Championship and the Mixed Pairs World Matchplay Championship.

With live coverage on BBC TV and staged on the WBT’s unique and world-renowned blue portable rink, the world championships will feature the top 20 bowlers in the world, joined by qualifiers from the UK, Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel and New Zealand.

Number five seed Marshall will open his 2014 singles campaign against Welsh qualifier Liam Bouse at 2pm and he knows the pressure will be intense.

“It’s the first round, I’m playing a qualifier and people always support the underdog,” said Marshall.

Before that, Marshall will team up with ex-Garden County team-mate Paul Foster as they try to regain their World Pairs title and the Commonwealth Games gold medallists are in action on Sunday afternoon with a first-round clash against either Scottish qualifiers Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker or the experienced England partnership of Andy Thomson and Mark Royal.

Marshall is also involved in this year’s Mixed Pairs championships, when he teams up with fellow Scot Julie Forrest. The strongly fancied pairing have an opening round clash next Friday (January 15) afternoon against the English pairing of Katherine Rednall and Mervyn King.

On the domestic scene, the men’s side is back in Scottish Premier League action tomorrow (Saturday) when they welcome second-bottom Lanarkshire to Meadowmill.

The task is quite simple for the home side – win their remaining three games, then hope current B section leaders Aberdeen slip-up on at least a couple of occasions.

“We have an outside chance of still winning the section and I will be making sure that we try and do our bit, then hope for good news from wherever Aberdeen are playing,” commented team captain Mark Johnston.

Marshall misses out again due to his participation in the World Indoor Championships, while Willie Wood is another high-profile absentee and leads to the call-up of junior cap Ewan Fallen.

Team: L. Middler, G. Darling, S. W. Thomson, S. Kennedy skip. G. Muir, A. Burt, G. Robertson, D. Oliver skip. E. Fallen, C. Allison, D. Berwick, B. Mellors skip. M. Johnston, C. Darling, A. Jeffrey, J. Higgins skip.

The ladies’ side also return to national league action tomorrow and the Division 1C leaders face a tough test at Galashiels against Tweedbank in their penultimate fixture of their campaign.

Team manager Sheena Currie is heartened by the return of the experienced Yvonne Veitch in a slightly recast line-up.

Team: M. Kivlin, P. Turner, M. Thomson, J. Fairnie skip. J. McFarlane, A. Berwick, M. Hamilton, E. Brown skip. J. Russell, M. Devine, C. Ward, Y. Veitch skip. M. Murray, I. Combe, G. Mackintosh, N. McNeil skip.

Elsewhere on the bowling scene, the action in the Jock Brodie Senior Challenge Cup resumed on Wednesday when East Lothian A clashed with Bainfield and Midlothian lined up against Abbeyview.

The youngsters from East Fife IBC were in jubilant mood recently after winning the East Lothian Youth Team Championship tournament. The side from Methil defeated Midlothian in a thrilling final to lift the East Lothian Council Trophy.

Finally, the SYIBA trial match takes place at Stirling IBC tomorrow morning and the East Lothian banner is represented by Dean Riva, Megan Kivlin, Craig Mackintosh and Lewis Betts.