MALAYSIA’S Datuk Punch Gunalan’s reign of over two decades in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) is as good as over.

Yesterday, there was a vote of no confidence on the world body’s deputy president during a controversial Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Jakarta, which went on for eight-and-half hour.

The Mongolian Badminton Association had proposed the vote of no confidence and after a secret ballot, a total of 142 members voted for the resolution while 38 were against.

And to make the day's events even more intriguing, the 65-year-old Gunalan, who had been involved in the world body since the 80s, did not show up for the meeting.

In fact, he flew home to Kuala Lumpur on Friday after resigning as the BWF chief operating officer during an exco meeting.

Two other prominent figures – vice president Robyn Bryant and the administration committee chairman Eraj Wijesinghe – were also absent.

The shocking news came just a day after Malaysian Karen Koh resigned from her post as the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) chief operating officer on Thursday.

Said the BWF’s president Dr Kang Young-joong: “This decision presents what the members want. I have nothing to say about it. But I do not feel good because I lose a friend.”

Ironically, the vote of no confidence stemmed from the conflict between South Korea's Young-joong and Gunalan.

The Mongolian BA, when tabling the resolution, stated that the rationale behind the vote was due to the fact that Gunalan was “not at all interested in the welfare of the BWF but only interested in usurping the powers of the president ... that the deputy president has and is using the council to show his personal dislike of the president. And this was narrated in an e-mail to the members on the president’s character.”

BWF general secretary Stuart Borrie, however, said Gunalan's status would be finalised only after a meeting with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“Mongolia’s proposal on a vote of no confidence was turned down by the BWF at first. They however brought the case to the CAS,” he said.

“And CAS has asked us to look into this proposal during the AGM. We did and we now have the members’ decision. We will forward it to the CAS and they will make a decision. Other than that, the meeting went on smoothly.”

One positive news emerging from the AGM yesterday was that members have agreed to have one representative from the athletes’ commission with voting rights on the council.