The move from one continent to another paid off immediately for Minasyan, 27, who switched nationality in July from Armenia to Bahrain.

In seven years of trying, Minasyan never won a European Championships gold medal because he was forever in the shadow of Lasha Talakhadze, the Georgian super-heavyweight who has set multiple world records and remained unbeaten since 2015.

It took Minasyan only five minutes to make his mark in his new continent by setting an Asian snatch record with his second lift of 205 kilograms.

He bettered that with 210kg and built a lead of 15kg over his Iranian rival Ali Davoudi, 23, by the halfway stage.

Davoudi edged the clean and jerk on 243kg and failed with a 250kg attempt at the Asian record.

There was yet another record for Minasyan, on total, as he finished 210-242-452 while Davoudi managed 195-243-438.

It was Minasyan's first major title and fittingly, the last anthem that was played at a hugely-successful Asian Championships for the first-time hosts was their own.

It was heard for the second time in two days after Lesman Paredes' victory in the 96kg.

The entertaining super-heavyweight finale was a contest between Olympic silver medallists, both men having finished behind Talakhadze on the sport’s biggest stage.

Minasyan was second at Rio 2016 and Davoudi took the runner-up spot in Tokyo last year, when Minasyan was an absentee because Armenia lost quota places for past doping offences.

Besides Rio, Minasyan has stood below Talakhadze on the podium at continental and World Championships eight times and he has never once got within 15kg of the Georgian's winning total.

While Minasyan made all three snatches, Davoudi failed with two of his attempts.

Davoudi, who at 176kg weighed in 26kg heavier than Minasyan, finished ahead of his 28-year-old team-mate Mohsen Dadrasasl, who took bronze on 190-217-407.

It was a busy day on the podium for Iran, which claimed its second title of the week when Rasoul Motamedi took the men’s 109kg on 397kg, the same total he made to win at the IWF World Championships last year.

Motamedi, 23, earned his second Asian senior title with 180-217-397, declining his final attempt after five good lifts.

Bekdoolot Rasulbekov, moving up to the highest weight category he has yet competed in, made it six from six to take silver for Kyrgyzstan on 173-216-389.

Kazakhstan took gold and bronze in the women’s super-heavyweights, which was won with a career-best total of 277kg by Aizada Muptilda.

The 24-year-old, who was fourth in last year’s IWF World Championships, made six from six and finished on 120-157-277.

Her team-mate Lyubov Kovalchuk made 115-151-266 and was edged out of second place when Nurul Akmal made her final attempt for 114-153-267.

Akmal, from Indonesia, was given loud support throughout the afternoon and also put in a career-best effort.

The three medallists had only one no-lift between them, Kovalchuk’s second snatch, and there was only one red score among the entire field of six in the clean and jerk session.