The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) at its Executive Board meeting at Lausanne on Tuesday.

The decision taken by the IOC will have a major effect on Indian sports and everyone involved. The suspension means India will be banned from all Olympic events and Indian athletes won’t be allowed to compete under the national flag. Furthermore Indian officials will be banned from all Olympic meetings and events and India will be denied any further IOC funding.

The IOC is yet to make an official statement on the decision to ban the IOA and Team India from the Olympic movement. But several sources from the International Olympic Committee have confirmed the reports to various news agencies and it seems like December 4, 2012 will be remembered as the day when India lost its face on a global stage.

The ban is a result of government interference in the IOA elections and it seems like all involved parties courted disaster despite knowing the rules of the Olympic Charter – the codification of the fundamental principles of Olympism, and the rules and bye-laws adopted by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC Ethics Commission warned the IOA on various occasions and set a deadline to get things sorted out by last Friday. But nothing happened and the IOC put an end to the whole saga during its meeting on Tuesday.

Indian athletes and officials faced the news with mixed emotions. Various IOA officials blamed other officials within the association, while others refused to make any statement at this stage.

“Bye Bye IOA, hope to see u again soon, hopefully cleaner,” Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra stated via Twitter.

“I’m absolutely shocked. I don’t know who is responsible for this but I know the athletes who will suffer if the situation is not resolved quickly,” five-time women’s boxing world champion Mary Kom has been quoted by agencies.

The coming days, weeks and months will be very interesting to monitor and it will set the future of Indian sports to a specific direction. One has to wait and see, if the IOA will be able to take the lesson from this ban and make a new start for the good of Indian sports.