Thaindian News

Basseterre (St. Kitts), Nov 12 (IANS) Australia’s Gold Coast has been chosen to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, beating the bid of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota in the process.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) made the announcement here Friday as 70 of its members voted 43-27 in the favour of Gold Coast. It is the fifth time that the Games have gone to Australia after Sydney in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982 and Melbourne in 2006.

The presence of sporting infrastructure worked in favour of the Gold Coast while Hambantota’s bid was made on creating the required facilities by 2016. Sri Lanka’s southern coastal city was devastated by the 2004 tsunami.

“We have done a lot of hard work and it was very clear early in the week there was a lot of delegates who supported Hambantota and it would be a very, very close vote. The hard work has paid off,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as saying.

Hambantota was hoping to be third Asian host of the Games after New Delhi in 2010 and Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Sri Lankan Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage was part of a 60-strong delegation to St. Kitts, which also included spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan.

“Sri Lanka has demonstrated quite clearly that it does have the capacity to host the games. It is a matter of timing and how the bids are put together,” said outgoing CGF president Michael Fennell.

The Gold Coast games will feature athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, swimming and weightlifting alongside seven optional sports that are likely to be shooting, table tennis, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon and wrestling.

The city is located about 90 kilometers south of Brisbane and has a population of around 540,000.

The 2014 edition will be held in Glasgow.