Michael Ferreira Profile

Michael Ferreira is an Indian Billiards Player, and famous for having won the World Billiards Championship four times. Apart from being a great player, Michael has been well known for a true rebellion who has always pleaded equal facilities and encouragement to other sports and games as well apart from Cricket.

Early Life
He was born on the 1st of October 1938 at Bombay (now Mumbai). During his teenage, he got interested into the game of Billiards and in the years to come, began playing the game seriously. He received his education at St. Joseph�s Public School, Darjeeling. Further, he studied at the St. Xavier�s College, Mumbai and pursued a Degree Course in Law at the prestigious Government Law College, Mumbai. He is a Lawyer by profession.

National Billiards
Ferreira began playing Billiards at the age of 16 years in the year 1954, and made his debut into the National Billiards Circuit in the year 1960 when he participated in the National Billiards Championship. After 3 years, in the National Billiards Championship 1963 held at Bangalore, he successfully compiled his first break of 300. In the tournament, he lost to Wilson Jones in the Final Match.

International Billiards
He made his debut into the International Billiards Circuit in the year 1964 when he represented the nation in the World Amateur Billiards Championship held at New Zealand. Ferreira finished 3rd at the tournament by a minute margin of just 6 points. The tournament was won by Wilson Jones, a yet another Indian Billiards Player, while Jeck Karnehm was the Runner Up at the event. He also finished as a Runner Up losing in the Final Matches of the World Billiards Championship 1969 held at London, 1973 held at Bombay and 1975 held at Auckland. He had made a record break of 629 at the World Billiards Championship 1973.

First World Billiards Title
Finally, he managed to clinch his first World Amateur Billiards Championship title in the year 1977, held at Melbourne. He made a highest break of 519 at the tournament. After this, he continued his march to success at the World Open Billiards Championship held at Christchurch, New Zealand where he won a yet another Gold Medal.

The Rare Achievements
Michael wrote a new chapter in the history of Indian Billiards when he became the first amateur player to surpass the 1000 points barrier in the National Billiards Championship held in December 1978. At the event, he created a new world record by scoring 1149 points. In the year 1981 Ferreira again won the World Amateur Billiards Championship held at New Delhi, and created a new world record under the three-pot rule by claiming a top break of 630.

Controversies and Awards
Popularly known as �Bombay Tiger�, Michael Ferreira has been a rebellious player who has always advocated equal attention and encouragement towards all the sports disciplines on the Government�s and Sponsors� side. After retiring from active Billiards, he served as a columnist and raised serious debates about the way special privileges being granted to Cricket as a sport are overshadowing other sports. He famously refused to accept the Padma Shri award being offered by the Government of India upon his winning the World Billiards Championship in 1981. The reason was that Sunil Gavaskar, the Cricketer was conferred upon Padma Bhushan, a more prestigious award, while Ferreira didn�t consider his achievements to be less than Sunil�s. Finally, he was bestowed with the Padma Bhusan award in the year 1983. Before this, Michael had won Maharashtra Government�s Shiv Chhatrapati Award in the year 1970, and Government of India�s Arjuna Award in the year 1971.