Michael Ferreira

Michael Ferreira (born 1 October 1938 in Bombay [now Mumbai]), nicknamed "the Bombay Tiger", is notable amateur player of English billiards from India, and a three-time Amateur World Champion. He participated in the Indian National Billiards Championship in 1960 for the first time, and in 1964 represented India in the World Amateur Billiards Championship (WABC) held in New Zealand, where he progressed to the semi-finals.^[1][2] In 1977, he won his first World Amateur Billiards Champion title and followed it up with the World Open Billiards Champion title in the same year.^[3] He has two other WABC titles. In 1978 he became the first amateur to break the barrier of 1,000 points, in the billiards national championships, and created a new amateur world record by scoring 1,149 points.^[2]

Early life

Ferreira studied in St. Joseph's School, Darjeeling,^[4] where he became interested in playing billiards. He was able to sustain his interest in the game during his college days in St. Xavier's College and the Government Law College in Mumbai.^[1]

Current life

Currently Ferreira is associated with Qnet, a Network marketing company.^{[5] [6]}

Awards

Ferreira was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1981, after he had won his second world amateur title. But he refused to accept this and contended that as cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was offered the more prestigious Padma Bhushan award, he too should be awarded the same.^[3] He is the first billiards player to be awarded with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, which was conferred on him after he won his third world amateur billiards title in 1983.^[7] He is also the recipient of the Maharashtra state government's Shiv Chhatrapati Award (1971), the Arjuna Award (1973) and the International Fair Play Committee's Letter of Congratulations (1983).^[1] He received the Dronacharya Award in 2001 for his coaching achievements in billiards and snooker.^[8]

References

Cue sports Pool games Nine-ball Eight-ball Straight pool Ten-ball Blackball Artistic pool & trick shots Bank pool Baseball pocket billiards Bottle pool Bowliards Chicago Chinese eight-ball Cowboy pool Cribbage Cutthroat Golf Honolulu Kelly pool Killer One-pocket Rotation Seven-ball Speed pool Three-ball Carom billiards Three-cushion Five-pins Artistic Goriziana Balkline and straight rail Cushion caroms Four-ball Other games Snooker English billiards Russian pyramid Kaisa Bumper pool Bagatelle Bar billiards Novuss Carrom Resources Glossary Techniques Billiard table Billiard ball Billiard hall Cue stick Rack World championships World Snooker Championship champions Six-red World Championship WPA World Nine-ball Championship champions WPA World Ten-ball Championship World Straight Pool Championship WPA World Eight-ball Championship (defunct) champions World Cup of Pool World Pool Masters Tournament See also: Cue sports at the World Games Categories Cue sports Players Organizations Competitions The rules of games in italics are standardized by international sanctioning bodies.