Melbourne, Nov 12 The Australian city of Melbourne has been declared the best sporting city in the world ahead of Berlin and Doha at the SportBusiness Sports Event Management Awards held at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.

Victorian Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding said on Thursday that it is a great achievement for Melbourne to win the gold medal in the Sports City category at the awards, now in its third year.

"This award confirms what we have all known for a long time - no other city puts on a major sporting event like Melbourne," The Age quoted Holding, as saying.

"You only had to be at Flemington last week for the Melbourne Cup or be at Kingston Heath this week to see Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy competing in the Masters to see our major events strategy on show," he added.

He says the judges have recognised the passion that Melburnians and Victorians have for sport and major events.

Melbourne's sports calendar over the next two years include the Socceroos' last match on Australian soil in June before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the UCI Road World Cycling Championships next October and the 2011 Presidents Cup golf tournament, to be played at Royal Melbourne. (ANI)