JAKARTA - Former world's best men's doubles Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo is now focusing on building a sports ecosystem from a business perspective, especially through a billiard branch, after officially retiring as a badminton player in 2024.
Kevin admitted that his role as a sports industry actor was very different compared to when he was still active as an athlete. Now, he directly leads the development of billiards as CEO of the Pro Billiard Center (PBC).
"When I was an athlete, everything was taken care of. Now in the business world, I have to think about everything," Kevin said in Jakarta, Sunday.
Despite pursuing the world of billiards, Kevin emphasized that he did not completely leave badminton. He continues to follow the latest developments and maintains closeness to PB Djarum, the club that has raised his name.
"Badminton is not abandoned, I am still following developments. With PB Djarum I am like family. If needed, I will definitely be ready to help," said Kevin.
Kevin chose billiards because he considered this branch to have great potential to be developed professionally and to be part of a sustainable sports industry.
I basically really like sports. This billiard is a start. In the future, I also want to be able to stay involved in badminton," said Kevin, who during his career was known as the men's doubles pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.
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Under his leadership, PBC will hold the PBC Indonesia International Open 2025 Predator championship on July 12 '18. This tournament is fighting for a total prize of US$235,000 (around Rp3.8 billion) and is attended by billionaires from 20 countries.
The event took place thanks to collaboration with the Executive Board of the Indonesian Billiards Sports Association (PB POBSI) who chaired Hary Tanoesoedibjo who is also Kevin's father or father of Valencia Tanoesoedibjo.
Kevin said the lack of flying hours was a major challenge for Indonesian billiard athletes. For this reason, he encourages the implementation of routine tournaments, both local and international levels, to shape the mentality and enrich the athlete's competing experience.
In my opinion, the most urgent is flying hours. With regular international tournaments, they can experience matches against outside athletes. It will really help in terms of mentality and experience," he said.
Although he has just learned to play billiards seriously, Kevin admits that he really enjoys the process and is optimistic that Indonesian athletes have the potential to compete at the world level.
Apart from being busy in the world of sports, Kevin has also just been appointed as Director of PT MNC Vision Networks Tbk (IPTV) based on the results of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGMS) on June 23.
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