Bermuda athletes will compete on home soil in 2013

Bermuda has been formally named as the host of the 2013 Island Games after the International Island Games Association's annual congress in Aland.

The British overseas territory was the only island bidding to host the event after Prince Edward Island pulled out.

Representatives from all 25 members - including Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man - were in Aland for the Island Games Association's annual congress.

The meeting heard how Aland's plans to host the 2009 Games are progressing.

The games in Bermuda will be the first ever to be held outside Europe.

"We still had a vote on it and they won unanimously, so the member islands are ready to take the big leap," the International lsland Games Association chairman Jorgen Pettersson told BBC Jersey.

The meeting was being held in the island's parliament building in the capital Mariehamn.

The Aland group of islands have a population of 26,000 and are an autonomous part of Finland, although the inhabitants speak Swedish.