The Qatari national was first voted in as President in 2011, and will serve a third term after being unopposed when the only other Presidential candidate, Mohamed Alharbi from Saudi Arabia, withdrew.

Alharbi is the AWF's new general secretary, and its first vice-president is Mohamed Jalood, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) President.

Alharbi and Jalood, who is from Iraq but lives in Doha, also took their roles unopposed after all other candidates withdrew before the vote.

It means that for the first time in the AWF's history, all the three most senior elected positions are held by men from Arab countries.

In the three Olympic Games since Al Mana took the AWF leadership, Asian nations have won 36 of the 44 gold medals in weightlifting, emphasising the continent's dominance of the sport in terms of achievement.

Al Mana spoke earlier this week of the need for the AWF to "build something for the future" and to be the leader among the continental federations.

"We need to work together, show the world our unity," he told delegates today at the AWF Electoral Congress, the first since 2015 after a number of postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in dates to the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

He said that the overriding priority was helping to keep weightlifting in the Olympic Games, and highlighted the need for all of the AWF’s 45 members to focus on "anti-doping, transparency and good governance".

Alharbi replaces Boossaba Yodbangtoey of Thailand as general secretary.

He has overseen a huge rise in popularity in weightlifting in Saudi Arabia, which will host the senior IWF World Championships for the first time in September.

Boossaba will continue to work for the AWF in an honorary role in a new office to be opened in Thailand, Al Mana said, praising her work.

Jalood was an individual candidate for first vice-president.

It is unusual for an International Federation President to stand for a role at continental level but Jalood said he was "happy to serve Asia in any position".

Among the five vice-presidents is Abdullah Aljarmal from Yemen, who was strongly critical of proceedings at the controversial IWF elections in Albania last June and made a complaint to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

He withdrew the complaint two weeks ago after long-running negotiations with Jalood, Al Mana and the IWF secretary general Antonio Urso.

The other vice-presidents include Meng Bo of China, in the most senior AWF role won by a female candidate, Sung Yong Choi of South Korea, the nation which hosts the 2023 Asian Championships in May and Shakhrillo Makhmudov of Uzbekistan.

A tie on 25 votes each led to a second round of voting between Monico Puentevella of the Philippines and Sahdev Yadav of India for the fifth vice-president position, which Puentevalla won by a wide margin.

The President, general secretary, first vice-president and five vice-presidents are joined by 11 others on the AWF Executive Board.

Among them are Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq from Bahrain, his nation’s first-ever Executive Board member at the AWF, Meco Chang from Chinese Taipei, who is also a member of the IWF Board and Sajjad Anoushiravani from Iran, an Olympic silver medallist in 2012.

After 18 withdrawals from the original list of 33 candidates, the other eight Board members are: Ahmad Mohyuddin from Bangladesh, Hasanin Alchikh from Syria, Ebrahem Alemyan from Jordan, Hafez Imran Butt from Pakistan, Omurzhan Moldodosov from Kyrgyzstan, Khodr Moukalled from Lebanon, Junichi Okada from Japan and Partha Sengupta from Nepal.

The unsuccessful candidate with the least votes was Jang Song Nam from North Korea, who did not travel to Doha but took part as the only online delegate.

The AWF is still unaware of whether North Korea will participate in its championships across the border in South Korea in May, a Paris 2024 qualifier.

It did not enter a team in the first qualifying competition, the IWF World Championships in Colombia last month, and will be able to take part only if its Government changes policy and allows independent anti-doping testers into the country.