Carom
ANDERNOS – The fireworks of New Year’s have only just stopped smoldering and Kozoom has already resumed its activities in billiards. The Christmas tournament in Zundert was the closing event of the remarkable year 2013 with its many highlights. After a short break, the Kozoom team went to work on the Belgian multidiscipline championships and the Dutch Masters.
The full billiard calendar never lets up, the team is always on the road to capture tournaments, special events and league play. Kozoom on tour, that means: wonderful live coverage, matches in replay, interviews and background stories from all over the world. From three cushion strongholds such as Korea and Colombia to Egypt and all the major European countries.
German Kozoom reporter Markus Schönhoff asked Xavier Carrer, founder and CEO of Kozoom, for a look back on 2013, and his thoughts about the upcoming 2014.
Markus Schönhoff/Kozoom: The new year is a few weeks underway with some big events in the Netherlands and Belgium. What can you say about 2013? Was it a successful year for Kozoom and why?
Xavier Carrer: Well... It's hard to summarize a so exciting year in few lines... For sure 2013 was Zanetti's year. The Italian player was responsible for one of the most beautiful achievements in the history of 3-Cushion with a unique series of victories on a very high level: the Agipi Masters, Lausanne Billiard Masters, the European championship and the World Games. I remember having cried in front of my laptop watching the semi-final between Zanetti and Caudron in Brandenburg. It was so intense. Who could believe that it's possible for Caudron to lose a match in a race to 40 points after making a run of 28! I could also mention another crazy match, Caudron-Jaspers during the Agipi Masters, the Turkish victory in the European Cup, our first broadcast from the big Apple in the famous Carom Café, Dong Koong Kang’s joy in Guri, Torbjörn Blomdahl’s world record in Greece, the tears of Fred Caudron on top of the podium in Antwerp in front of thousands spectators... Kozoom is proud to share these unique moments in sport with fans across the world.
Watch the historical match between Marco Zanetti and Frédéric Caudron In Brandenburg:
MS: The year of 2014 began with the Multi’s in Blankenberge, an incredible event every year. What can you say about this year? How many live events are on the Kozoom agenda, and what will be the highlights in your opinion?
XC: As every year, Blankenberge is a good kick off. It's a wonderful multi-discipline event starring very talented Belgian players. Look at the performances of Caudron, Niessen and Merckx. These guys are phenomenal. We just returned from the Netherlands where we did a nice coverage of the Dutch Masters. Jaspers and De Bruijn offered us a great show in the final and there are more KNBB events coming up. It's hard to say what the number of LIVE events will be; our agenda is being updated constantly. As usual, the UMB Worldcups and championships will be our backbone. The previous years have shown our constant efforts to improve our service. It will be the same in 2014. Our main challenge is always to keep the best quality even when the number of coverages is still growing...
MS: Is there any news about Kozoom for this year? Some modifications on the website or additional offers for the members?
XC: Our website will be refreshed before the end of the quarter. It means that you can also expect functional improvements like a new live page with a bigger screen soon. We are also preparing more instructional content mixing video and simulation, hosted by great champions. As you know, we are also working on new services: Kozoom Competition who will provide a great tool to sport directors to manage tournaments, but also MyKozoom, that will give clubs the ability to broadcast their live events autonomous on Kozoom using our Livescoring and servers. On the Store side, we are planning on adding more exciting new products, but most important, we are working on improving the availability of products, which means investing in more inventory. Being able to offer the largest choice for Carom Fans is a big investment and a constant effort. 2014 will be again a busy year and I like that. There are so many things to do...
MS: Last year the Agipi Masters cyclus stopped, that was not good news. We are facing new Worldcups, last year in Greece and Medellin, this year in Luxor and Antwerp. You, as a real insider in the world of billiards, what do you expect about the development of billard in the next years? What is the objective?
XC: The brutal exit of the President of Agipi, Claude Fath, had a bad impact on our sport. Like with Cristal Kelly, we all know that these kind of initiatives are fragile because it is not based on economical interest, but on love for the sport. The situation will remain fragile without a big sponsor able to support a series of international events. We need a multinational company from outside our small industry who says: I invest in this sport because it's a good way to sell my products. I truly believe that the 3-cushion can become a professional sport. We have great sportsmen, we are able to produce exciting TV shows being watched by millions of people. We proved this on Eurosport the past few years... Of course it's important to see new organizers of UMB Worldcups but the situation remains fragile. At any time a Worldcup can be postponed or cancelled. With a big sponsor, the UMB is able to support local organizers and to consolidate every project. That would be the perfect scenario. From my side, I try to find solutions to build a new format of tournaments inspired by the Agipi Masters with the best players from the UMB ranking. Lot of marketing, only one table with a knock out format to match with TV requirements. Some people with different profiles are ready to take part in this project but a big amount of money is needed to start it... I heard that a professional Tour with big prize money could also be created in Korea with three events this year and more next year. Wait and see. For sure, it would make sense to see big projects like this one coming from the country of 3-cushion...
MS: When you could make a wish, what would you wish for Kozoom in this year and for you personal?
XC: I will be daddy for the second time this year. I love my new daddy's life and I love my job. I have a great team around me, that gives his best for this project. Can I expect something more? Sure, like I said, there are still a lot of things to do, a lot of new projects and I sincerely thank our Premium members for their loyalty keeping the Kozoom Project alive.
The Kozoom Team during the 3-Cushion World championship in Antwerp. Kozoom was in charge of the TV Production for the Belgian channel Sporza and Eurosport2.