Earlier this month the firm cancelled a proposed vote after it said it did not get enough support for implementation of the incentive scheme, which would have seen the Newcastle United football club owner pick up 8million Sports Direct shares in 2018.
That was the second time in less than two years that Sports Direct shareholders had rejected a bonus for Ashley, after a £26million plan was sent back by investors in 2012.
Chief executive Dave Forsey said: 'The board was extremely disappointed to withdraw the resolution regarding a proposed share scheme award to Mike Ashley.
'The most disappointing aspect was where large shareholders gave their support only to then vote differently. This outcome is likely to lead to further uncertainty in the future.'
Sports Direct, which has over 600 stores in Europe.
Sports Direct said it was very confident of at least meeting its full year earnings target of £310million before staff bonus charges.
It is understood Ashley had support from the company’s largest institutional shareholder, Odey Asset Management, but not from other shareholders.
Investors in Sports Direct are still puzzling over Ashley’s plans for his stakes in two other store chains.
The billionaire spooked investors earlier this year by building up a 4.6 per cent stake in Debenhams. He later exchanged that shareholding for the right to buy back a larger stake of up to 7 per cent of Debenhams at a cheaper price via an option deal.
And Ashley snapped up an 11 per cent stake in House of Fraser earlier this month just as the department store was finalising a takeover by Chinese group Sanpower.