Borhan Abu Samah (30 November 1964 – 29 October 1999) was a

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played for the Singapore national team in the 1990s. He was a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

best known for his hard-tackling and "bulldog" style of play, earning himself the nickname of the "Russian Tank". He made his international debut against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

on 4 April 1987. He was part of the

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

squad which won the Malaysian League and

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

double in the 1992 FAM League season. He achieved the double again playing for the

Singapore Lions Singapore FA was a representative team of the Football Association of Singapore in competitions run by the Football Association of Malaysia, separate from the Singapore national team. Despite dissolving in 1994, it is still by far the second ...

in 1994. Borhan died of

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

on 29 October 1999, at the age of 34.

References

1964 births 1999 deaths Singaporean men's footballers Singapore men's international footballers Singapore FA players Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Geylang International FC players Men's association football fullbacks SEA Games silver medalists for Singapore SEA Games bronze medalists for Singapore SEA Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1989 SEA Games Deaths from liver cancer in Singapore {{Singapore-footy-bio-stub