By
Tony Francis: Amidst the fog in my memory bank, one experience with Punch Gunalan stands out like a beacon because as someone said, the advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.
It was 1976. Gunalan had made a comeback but as a coach following the end of Malaysia’s golden era in badminton with the retirement three years earlier of Tan Aik Huang, Gunalan himself, Ng Boon Bee and Tan Aik Mong after the Bangkok debacle where Malaysia were embarrassed by Thailand in the Asian zone final after leading 3-1 overnight.
Now, it was a new game with a new generation of players. And Gunalan was on a roll. Early in the year he had taken a team comprising players barely out of their school shorts to a stunning win over Prakash Padukone’s India, coming from 4-1 down to triumph 5-4 in the Thomas Cup zone final in Lucknow.
And as many would recall, Gunalan was so ecstatic and choked with emotion during the post-match interview on radio that he kept saying “Fantabulous, fantabulous” so many times that sportswriters were left scrambling to see if there was such a word in the dictionary.
It was Gunalan’s way of describing a FANTAstic and faBULOUS comeback win. It was sheer grit and determination that won Saw Swee Leong, Phua Ah Hua, James Selvaraj, Moo Foot Lian, Dominic Soong and Cheah Hong Chong the tie. But would that be enough for the May-June Finals in Bangkok where the mighty Danes lie in wait in the semifinals? Even the most optimistic of pundits gave the ‘Punch Babes’ no chance against the likes of Sven Pri, an All-England champion, Fleming Delfs, Elo Hansen and Steen Skovgaard.
Like my editor-in-chief, the late Tan Sri Lee Siew Yee. He sent word that I was to take the first flight home after the match against the Danes. “Cut expenses. Save money. No way Malaysia are going to make it. We’ll get the wires (news agencies) to cover the final,” he said.
That had put me in a bind. I was scheduled to fly to Tehran from Bangkok the day after the final as a guest of the Iran FA for the Asian Cup soccer finals where coach M. Kuppan and Mokhtar Dahari and company were up against the best in the continent.
How do I explain to the good Tan Sri about the complications of cancellation and rebooking of flights? It was too late in the day. While Siew Yee was a scrooge when it came to company expenses, he was also passionate about badminton. We respected him for that. After all, he had sailed with Wong Peng Soon and the rest of the Malayan team to cover the first Thomas Cup finals in Preston, England, in 1949. So he knew what was in store for the ‘Punch Babes’. No chance. Or so he thought.
But like the rest, he didn’t reckon on a shrewd Gunalan exploiting the underdogs’ tag to the hilt. “I keep telling the players to believe and achieve,” Gunalan said during one breakfast session with the only two print Malaysian journalists who had made the trip – George Das of The Star and me representing the NST — in the hotel coffeehouse on the day of the match.
He was crafty too. He said he had taught them some tricks of the trade like squeezing the shuttle at crucial moments during service to catch the opponent offguard with the faster shuttle speed.
When I told Gunalan about my predicament if they lose, he laughed. “You must pray harder. Have faith. For us, winning is not impossible,” he said, pointing out that the Danes’ overconfidence and the enervating humidity in Bangkok could work in Malaysia’s favour and cause a Danish meltdown. “We just have to wear them out. We can do it,” he said.
And they did, winning 5-4 over the two nights, with Swee Leong scoring an unexpected point against Delfs and Dominic Soong and Cheah Hong Chong toppling the mighty Pri and Skovgaard for the winning point on the second night. And how Malaysia celebrated.
The win gave me a reprieve. I stayed on for the Final and knew I would be on the plane to Tehran from Bangkok. But I could imagine the look of disbelief on Siew Yee’s face back in Kuala Lumpur though I was sure he was among those who celebrated when Malaysia scored the winning point. It didn’t matter that we lost to the udy Hartono-powered Indonesians in the Final. ‘Punch Babes’ had achieved the impossible.
Gunalan became a celebrity that night and in the days that followed, soaking up the adulation and attention from the foreign media, particularly the Danish journalists. He was inundated with requests for interviews. And the questions were always the same: “How did you manage it? What was the secret? What did you do? “On all occasions, they got the same answer: “I have a bunch of fighters who had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
In Denmark, they dubbed him the ‘Miracle Man’. In Bangkok, we called him the ‘Joker’ not only because he could make you laugh until your face hurts but because he could also be as mischievous as the next guy.
When George and I caught up with him in his hotel room, we talked and laughed about how people who had nothing to do with the team had hitched onto the bandwagon. Insignificant and unqualified officials were giving interviews on Malaysia’s resounding win as if they had made it happen.
So we decided to get a firsthand experience. It was decided that I should call a senior BAM administrative official and see his response. On the pretext of being a journalist from India who was calling from New Delhi, I managed only two questions but the ‘interview’ lasted a good hour as the official boasted about how he

was instrumental in selecting this young breed of fighters and motivated them and he was sure they would win the Thomas Cup and would be world beaters for years to come. When it was done, Gunalan, in his sarong, was rolling on the bed with tears from the uncontrollable laughter.
Thanks for the memories, Punch. As you would have said, “They were fantabulous.”

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (1777-1844)

By
Vijeya Gunalan: It all started in early 1970. The badminton team doctor, Dr Ganeson and physical trainer, Mr Nadaraja tried to convince Punch to meet the only daughter of one, K.K Pillai, a good friend of theirs and an avid sportsman and sports fan in his own right.
However, the suave Punch refused, saying that he was not ready to meet anyone at the time, and wanted to concentrate on his badminton training and the 1970 Thomas Cup Finals. However, as fate would have it, I went to the Selangor Badminton Association Hall on 7th April 1970, with my little brother and cousins to get the players’ autographs. They were big fans of Punch and the team.
He immediately took a liking to me, and on the pretext of getting us tickets for the Thomas Cup Finals, he managed to get my phone number. He later confessed that he knew the moment he saw me, that I was the person he would share his life with… and he did.
On the very next day, Yew Cheng Hoe, another member of the Thomas Cup squad called me and said that Punch would like to go out with me.  I was shocked and asked my dad’s permission. My dad immediately gave me the green light. He felt that I would be in safe hands with Punch, and as such he was more than happy with the situation.
At 3pm, a big car with some of the squad members arrived at my porch. They picked me up and dropped us both at the Odeon Cinema in Kuala Lumpur. We went to see Romeo and Juliet. Unlike the movie, our story had a far happier continuation that lasted 42 years.
We became much closer after that. On Sundays, I used to visit him at the chalet where the team were housed. I used to take tea and food for the team as well. We used to go for movies and to restaurants. The two places we frequented were Paris Corner in Bukit Bintang and Madras Restaurant in Jalan Ipoh. Paris corner is no more, but the Madras restaurant is still going strong in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
My dad decided that we should get engaged soon, as people noticed this Indian girl going out with a famous sportsman. On 5th Sept 1970, we were engaged and on 12th June 1971 we got married. It was a grand affair at the Kalamandabam hall in Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur.
I still remember when we came down for the reception after the ceremony, Punch was swarmed with young fans asking for his autograph. Such was his appeal at the time. The next day, we had a dinner reception hosted by Punch at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, where the Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan and his consort were the guests of honour.
Punch was born in Selangor, but grew up and lived with his mother and three sisters, in Seremban. Punch was not a rich man, as at the time, badminton players played more for the glory of the country than for money. Tournaments won were many but the reward was the honour brought to the country and not monetary. He was kindly loaned money by the Badminton Association of Malaysia, to host the reception. The money was returned to them with thanks.
Our marriage was full of love and happiness. The first year, he travelled a lot as a player. I never complained because that was his passion and he was conquering world badminton as a player. In late 1971, Punch was invited to play an exhibition match in Calgary, Canada. He decided to take me along and for the first time, I got to travel overseas in an airplane. We got the opportunity to stop at Hong Kong, Japan and Hawaii. On the return flight we stopped in California and I got to go to Disneyland. It all seemed like a dream to me at the time. I remember clearly in Hawaii, I decided to wake up early and make eggs for him. Unfortunately it was too salty. But Punch being himself, ate it just to pacify me. For many years after, he always used to tease me about the eggs fiasco in Hawaii. We were generally a very happy and loving couple.
Five years into our marriage, in 1976, our son Roshan was born. It was the happiest day of our lives. Punch, though busy, always made sure he spent as much time as possible with his son. He always considered his son his proudest achievement.
Fast forward to 2001, Punch was elated as his son graduated as a doctor. It was one of his happiest moments. That was only topped in 2007, when our darling grandson, Neraaj Madhav Roshan was born. Punch was a dotting grandfather. He would love to spend time with the grandson, but fate dealt a cruel twist to all of us. For, Punch passed on, just shy of Neraaj’s 5th birthday.
Punch was multi-talented. He could handle any job even when under pressure. He was also very forward thinking and would be two steps ahead in most of his plans and projects. He was also talented in other sports. He held the record for pole vaulting in his school, King George V (KGV), Seremban for many years. His forte was however badminton. From a young age, his dad used to train him and he would beat children who were more senior to him.
Punch was also a very good student. He was the top student in his school, KGV, and was the school captain in his final year. He obtained a scholarship from Tenaga Nasional to pursue mechanical engineering in Brighton, England. He returned to Malaysia after completing his studies and worked with Tenaga Nasional (formerly NEB) for five years. After that, he moved on to work at Dunlop. It was at this time that his love for badminton shone through, and he became more involved in the sport he loved. He began to involve himself more in the sport, in a coaching and administration capacity.
Punch received many awards locally, titles, and Sportsman of the Year awards. He received a Datukship from the King in 1992 after Malaysia’s Thomas Cup victory that year. He was the coach and manager for that legendary team on 1992. However, not many know that he was also given a Professorship by the Sports Institute of Sofia in Bulgaria. He received the award from the President of Bulgaria at the time, for his contribution to developing badminton in Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries.
Until today, Punch is probably the only person who has excelled in the sport of badminton as a player, as a coach and manager and as an administrator. A ferocious attacking player who smashed like ‘punches’. He used the same vigour to train ‘his boys’, the Thomas Cup squad from 1988 to 1992. This culminated in Malaysia winning the Thomas Cup in 1992, the last time the nation had done so. He used the same guile he had on court, as an administrator.
A role he pursued to the highest level. Among his unknown successes of his time in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) was to bring the head office from England to Malaysia. Punch also was instrumental in changing the scoring system to the current 21- point system used internationally. His aim was to one day make badminton the number one racquet sport in the world, a dream which was not realised in his lifetime unfortunately. As much as he has done for the sport at every level, it is sad that the current generation do not know the legend of Punch Gunalan.
Anyone who knew Punch personally, would know him as a jovial, lovable character. Easy to get along with. Caring and accommodating to anyone he met. He cared a lot for his family and his friends.  Despite being busy, he would spend as much time as possible with me and his son. He would always put his family first.
He was a happy-go-lucky type of person. He had an infectious and characteristic laugh that was instantly recognizable to those who knew him. He would enjoy every celebration and party with his family and loved ones. Always being the loudest among the crowd. He was always happiest when he was surrounded by those he loved. As a husband he was kind and loving with a slight temper. However, his anger never lasted more than 15 minutes and we would be best of friends again soon after.
Despite travelling far and wide, every birthday of mine, he would send me a bouquet of flowers. That was the loving husband that he was, even until his final days. I miss that the most, every birthday since his passing.
Punch suffered a heart attack in 1995. However, he recovered and was well. Until he underwent surgery to his spine in 2006, and subsequently had a coronary artery bypass in 2007. In late 2008, he retired from his post as the Vice-President of the Badminton World Federation. After which, health issues started to take its toll on him. In late 2010 and early 2011, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. His condition slowed him down tremendously. The once active and eloquent Punch was becoming shakier physically and his speech was slurring and slow.
The worst was however yet to come. On 26th Feb 2012 he complained of back and stomach pains. Thinking nothing of it, he did not seek any treatment or consult any doctors initially.
As the pain persisted, we visited a doctor in Jalan Ipoh, only to find out that my beloved Punch had a tumour.
He was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma (a rare cancer of the gallbladder) which had spread to the liver. The prognosis was bleak.
To me, at the time, I felt my whole world crumble into a heap. Punch was calmer than I was. He was consoling me as I was crying the whole journey back home.
We spoke to our son, who had a private talk with his father at the time. Something I was unaware of, until his passing.
On the 3rd of March 2012, we saw a hepatobiliary surgeon. He was not very optimistic of Punch’s chances. He had only given him six months.
I was not told of this duration, but my son, who is a doctor was well aware of the situation. We took him to several hospitals and consulted several doctors and specialists. Hoping against hope that something could be done for him. Over the next few months, he got weaker. He was tired, spoke very little and never really complained despite being in a lot of pain.
Punch took everything in his stride. Knowing he did not have much time left, all he wanted was what had kept him happy all these years… to be surrounded by those he loved. His three sisters who live in Melbourne came down and stayed with him over his last few months.
In June 2012, his condition worsened. He was weaker and jaundiced. His appetite was poor and he was losing weight. He also had difficulties moving his limbs as he was very weak. On 4th Aug 2012, he was admitted to Subang Jaya Medical Centre. The place brings such mixed memories for me. In 2007, the most joyous with the birth of our beloved grandson, and in 2012, the loss of my beloved Punch.
During his admission, he had a steady stream of visitors. From family, to his former school friends, friends from various stages of his career. He had visitors from overseas, he even had total strangers visit him, as they knew that Punch Gunalan was admitted. Several former and current badminton players whom he had previously trained visited him almost daily. We and our family were very touched by these players who spent time daily just to see him and keep him company, despite him being at his weakest. On 12th Aug, he tried to see the men’s singles finals of the London Olympics, where Lee Chong Wei played Lin Dan. He predicted a Lee Chong Wei victory, which wasn’t to be.
Punch loved to be surrounded by those close to him. He lived his life like that. And at his final passing, he was surrounded by those who loved him the most. I held his hand through the night, as my son sat on the other side of the bed from him. Knowing that he was fading away. Away from me after 42 years of love and memories.
At the dawn of 15th Aug 2012, at 6.00am, my Punch finally left me. He took his last breath holding my hand, and my son’s in his other hand. I felt like everything from me had gone. I felt a void that will never be filled again. Can I ever forget all this? Not until my last breath.
On that fateful day, I lost my pillar of strength, my soul-mate, my best friend….my legend, my hero. Five years down the line, I still miss everything about him. But I still cherish every moment I shared with him. For 42 years…. I was truly blessed.

By
Yew Cheng Hoe: It is 1967, and it has been 12 years since the Thomas Cup landed on our shores. Since 1955, we’ve never gotten close enough to get our hands onto the ultimate trophy in the badminton world…the Thomas Cup! Now, in 1967, everything was different. We were now Malaysia, we were a new nation and with new blood streaming through our badminton veins, and new hopes to wrest the Thomas Cup from our rivals, Indonesia! Indonesia were the defending champions and it was up to us to take it away from them. Our manager, Khir Johari constantly drummed these words into our minds: “It is now or never”. The wait had to end, and we (Teh Kew San, Tan Aik Huang, Ng Boon Bee, Tan Yee

Khan, Billy Ng and myself) were the ones he placed the nation’s hopes on.
Flying to Jakarta for the final was nerve-wrecking. The Indonesians were a very boisterous and rowdy crowd, and to be in the infamous Istora stadium with this crowd was something no amount of training can prepare you for.
On the first day, we led 3-1. I took out Ferry Soneville, Aik Huang lost to Rudy Hartono, Boon Bee-Yee Khan beat Unang-Darmawan, and finally Aik Huang and Kew San managed to edge Muljadi and Susanto. Confidence was high in our camp. We were just two matches away from bringing the Cup back home.
The second day started just like the first day with Aik Huang beating Soneville and Hartono beating me. The score was now 4-2. We only needed one more win. And with Kew San losing his game in the third singles match, the tension was high as Boon Bee and Yee Khan took to the court for their match.It was an easy start for them and then the crowd started to react.
The noise in the stadium went up at least by five decibels. The crowd jeered every time we got the point and they started using their camera flashes just as we were taking the shots. We lost the second game 13-15.
It was at that time that the match official Herbert Scheele suspended the tournament unless the Indonesian badminton association cleared the stadium of all spectators as the situation was getting out of hand.
But the partisan fans were relentless. They invaded the courts, and started pulling the fuses off the DB boxes. The stadium was suddenly immersed in total darkness. We were terrified as just before the stadium went dark, even the soldiers were not able to control the crowd.
We thought the crowd was going to lynch us and with the soldiers losing control, we feared that they would have lost their guns and we would be killed. But we were quickly herded out of the stadium, all we could see were streams of light from their torches and one single flame from a lighter that led us away from mayhem.
Later we found out that the flame from the lighter came from Khir Johari. The crowd very quickly rushed down from the stands were on our tail and very quickly catching up. We barely managed get into our bus with the help of the police who then escorted us back to our hotel.Even at the hotel, there was already a crowd waiting for us. We had to enter Hotel Indonesia from its back entrance and quickly rushed up to our rooms. There we were informed by Khir that we would had to wait for IBF’s decision. We were hoping we could continue playing again the next day. It would have been difficult for us to play on as we.