Women in billiard have brought our sports to new heights. Therèse Klompenhouwer has changed hers forever. After 20 years as a pro carom player, she is a 5-time World Champion and has claimed more than 60 official titles so far.
With women carom players competing for the first time at the World Games this summer, this is another opportunity for the one called “The Queen” to showcase carom in front of the whole world and to shape the legacy of the sport.
In this first of 3 episodes, Therèse Klompenhouwer reflects on her passion and shares her views on the future of women in carom.
How it all started
“My parents had a billiard room. That’s how it started. I also played tennis when I was young, but I also played a lot of billiards. I started maybe when I was 9 years-old. When I was a really young age, I was running between the billiard tables in the business. And so that’s how I met the game, and that’s how I got involved with the game.”
The opportunities for women in carom
“To be honest, of course, in Europe, carom and billiard in general maybe is not the number one sport. So especially for carom billiards, I think you have to get in touch with it by your parents or a brother or a friend, to go and play it. And of course, the opportunities are not much in Europe. I think there are more opportunities now than the last few years. So yes, I think it’s not so easy. The women part of billiards and maybe also other sports, it’s more recognized. And that’s why we have more tournaments now and more opportunities to play. And I think that’s the biggest impact of women billiards.”
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