Commonwealth heads of sports on Saturday chose Bermuda to be the site of their 1995 meeting.

Bermuda's bid was a 36-13 winner over a proposal by the Isle of Man. The 1995 meeting, at which the site of the 2002 Games will be selected, will be held at the Elbow Beach Hotel in November of that year.

"I'm really excited, and sincerely hope that Bermuda accepts the message being sent by the Commonwealth Games people that they have faith in Bermuda and want to come to the Island,'' said Bermuda Olympic Association president Austin Woods after Saturday's 10-hour meeting.

"We had a lot of indications before and during the meeting that delegates would give us their support, but you can never be too sure about these things.

We were a bit nervous, but our presentation went very well.'' Mr. Woods said the strength of Bermuda's bid appeared to be its low-key approach. The Isle of Man bid centred around the new $30 million Radisson Group hotel which is scheduled to open this month. Bermuda's representatives -- Mr. Woods, BOA general-secretary Mr. John Hoskins and 1994 chef de mission Mr. Philip Guishard -- donned their Bermuda shorts, and then screened a video of the Island.

"We didn't do a hard sell, whereas the Isle of Man concentrated on selling their new facilities and what the meeting would be all about,'' he said.

"We zeroed in on Bermuda itself rather than Elbow Beach -- we sold the delegates on the Country, rather than the hotel.'' Woods proposed the November date instead of September as originally put forward by Federation officials because it represents a lean time of year for Bermuda in tourism terms and because he was told by African delegates that an African Games will be held in late September and early October in 1995.

Elbow Beach was chosen because of its proximity to Hamilton, and because delegates who do not want to leave the hotel will be able to have their needs attended to there.

Woods expects close to 300 visitors for the meetings, with the actual number dependent on the bidders for the 2002 competition.

"We talked in terms of the delegates making their 1995 visit a family holiday rather than just a visit for the meeting,'' Woods said. "The feeling I got was that a lot of delegates simply wouldn't have the chance to visit the Island if they didn't do it for these meetings.'' Manchester, England, which recently lost the 2000 Olympic Games to Sydney, Australia, is expected to prepare a bid for the 2002 competition, and South Africa, should it rejoin the Commonwealth next year, may also be in the running.