The "Bombay Tiger", Michael Joseph Ferreira was one of the greatest Billiard players that India has ever produced. He was born in Mumbai on 1st October 1938. He was a maestro of the game. He started to play the game when he was in his last year at St. Joseph`s School in Darjeeling in 1953. He was so mesmerized by the greatness and artistry of the game that he fell in love with it and he continued to play the game seriously later. The sound of crystallite balls made him fascinated. He decided to make this game his career and in his college life, he was playing this game in the St. Xavier`s College and Government Law College in Mumbai. He started his career in the year of 1960 in National Billiard Championships. Three years later, he compiled his first break of 300 in the 1963 Nationals in Bangalore, but he lost in the final to his mentor Wilson Jones.

Michael Joseph Ferreira set a world record of 629 at the World Amateur Meet held in London in 1969. However, he was held by Satish Mohan for quite some time to fulfill his ambition to dominate the national scene. This great rivalry between them brought out the best in both the players and from 1970 it became a Ferreira show. He took his own time to prove himself but when he did started to show his excellence, there was no stopping to him. This brilliant player is the holder of an extraordinary record of winning the National title for seven times. He is known as "Mike" or "Bombay Tiger" to his friends.

Michael Joseph Ferreira participated in the World Amateur Billiards Championship in New Zealand in 1964 as a representative of India. He created a sensation with his very first appearance. He played very well throughout the tournament and lost a very close tie in the semi-finals by a mere 6 points. After some great performing championships, he won his maiden World Amateur Billiards Championship title in the year of 1977 competing with all the top stars of the world. In the very same year he won the World Open Billiards Championship title at the same venue at Christchurch. By winning this he completed a unique Double. He has two more World Billiard Championship titles under his belt that make his tally of World Championships to count 4 titles. In 1978, he stunned the whole world, as he became the first amateur to break the World Record of 1000 points in the National Billiards Championships. He set a new record by scoring 1149 points. In addition, he set up 16 word records throughout his career including breaks of 1149, 995 and 986. The first two breaks were acknowledged in the Guinness Book of World Records.

With his unbelievable artistry, Michael Joseph Ferreira became the No.13 in the world ranking. He kept the Indian tricolor flying high with his awesome performance during the seventies and eighties. The Indian Government also paid some honour back to him. He is the only billiard player so far to be awarded, with the `Padma Bhushan Award`, the third highest civilian award in the country. He is also the recipient of the `Shiv Chhatrapati Award` in 1971 from the Maharashtra Government. He received the `Arjuna Award` in the year of 1973 and `Fair Play Award` by the International Olympic Committee in 1983. Not only this, his extraordinary performance also gave a boost to the three-ball game of Billiards in India and encouraged youngsters like Geet Sethi to shine in the international arena.

Michael Joseph Ferreira was not only a great player; he was also fighting for equal treatment in sports in India. His rebellious trait came to the forefront in 1981 when he refused to accept the Padma Shri award presented to him after he won his second world title. He did so in order to protest against the common practice in India of giving cricket prominence over other sports. He stated very strongly that his achievements in Billiards were not in any way less than that of Sunil Gavaskar in Cricket. Anyway, Michael Joseph Ferreira was indeed a great Billiard player of all time and he is still remembered for his strong opinions on behalf of the equal treatment in sports in India.