"See you in Gold Coast in 2018!!!" the federation said on Twitter, following a vote of its general assembly in the Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis.The 70 nations and territories in attendance voted 43 to 27 for the Australian bid. [break]
The decision came after last year´s Games in New Delhi, supposed to showcase India´s status as an emerging global power, instead descended into a welter of embarrassing scandals.
"My sincere congratulations to Gold Coast -- theirs was a fantastic bid and they are a very, very worthy winner," federation president Michael Fennell said.
Coastal Hambantota was badly affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and had brought in cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan to boost its campaign message that hosting the Games would have helped regenerate Sri Lanka.
Fennell said he hoped Hambantota would consider bidding again in the future.
"Hambantota was also a very strong bid, and we have a duty to take the Games to new places, but the bid needs to be the right thing for the Commonwealth Games movement at the right time," he said.
Gold Coast, a sub-tropical tourist hotspot that is home to more than 500,000 people, promised to provide a stark contrast to last year´s host.
The 2010 Delhi Games proved troubled, with the sporting headlines overshadowed by venue delays, shoddy construction, corruption allegations and budget overruns that saw the cost of the event triple to US$6 billion.
Australia said hosting the Commonwealth Games for the fifth time, becoming the only nation to ever do so, would allow it to showcase its ability to host major international sporting events.
"This morning´s victory was a fantastic result for the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia," Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and Sport Minister Mark Arbib said in a joint statement.
"It will provide a big boost to tourism and jobs on the Gold Coast, both in the lead up to the Games and during the event."
Gold Coast is in the southeast of Queensland, a state which is still rebuilding after devastating floods almost a year ago swamped tens of thousands of homes and shut down the state capital Brisbane.
"Queensland we did it!!," state Premier Anna Bligh tweeted from St Kitts. "We got back up again & we won the 2018 Commonwealth Games."
Australia has a long association with the Commonwealth Games, hosting the event four times -- in Sydney (1938), Perth (1962), Brisbane (1982) and Melbourne (2006).
The country´s biggest city Sydney held the 2000 Olympics and the nation hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
The national government said it would be looking forward to home advantage and a repeat of the country´s most successful Games performance, when Australian participants won a record 221 medals in Melbourne.
"The Games attract thousands of athletes from around the Commonwealth, as well as tens of thousands of fans and a global television audience of well over one billion people," Swan and Arbib said in the statement.
"So hosting the Commonwealth games will be a great opportunity to showcase to a huge global audience all that the Gold Coast has to offer."
The Games bring together athletes from 71 Commonwealth countries and the 2014 event is to be held in Glasgow in Scotland.
Gold Coast, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia, experiences some 287 days of sunshine each year and boasts 70 kilometres of beaches.
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