Armenia sent political heavyweights to present its bid before the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board at the Hotel Melia here, but Bahrain’s presentation won the day ahead of Armenia and the third candidate Albania.

Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq, President of the Bahrain Weightlifting Federation and, at 31, the youngest Board member of the Asian Weightlifting Federation, said he was “immensely proud and honoured” by the decision.

"I thank the IWF for their trust and plan on hosting a fantastic event that further contributes to the development of our beloved sport," he said.

The Championships is scheduled to be staged in the capital Manama in November-December next year, a few months after Olympic Games in Paris, where weightlifting is due to take place from August 7 to 11.

It is unusual for the IWF to stage a World Championships in an Olympic year, although there was one in 2021 after the delayed Tokyo Games.

The athlete quota for weightlifting in Paris is 120, the lowest since women were welcomed on to the Olympic platform at Sydney 2000, and there are currently twice as many weight categories at a World Championships as there will be in the French capital.

After Bahrain hosted the 2022 Asian Championships at short notice last October the IWF Board member Yousef Al Mana, President of the Asian Weightlifting Federation, said, "This has not been a five-star competition, it has been seven stars."

The organisation, competition and training venues, transport and Opening Ceremony drew wide praise and the Olympic champion Meso Hassona, from Qatar, said after winning the 102 kilograms title, “Seriously, they deserve a World Championships… for the athletes this has been a fantastic competition.”

Bahrain had two winners at that competition, Lesman Paredes and Gor Minasyan, both of whom are well placed to qualify for Paris 2024.

At the time Mohamed Jalood, President of the IWF, said Bahrain’s chances of hosting an IWF World Championships were realistic and “it could happen sooner than expected.”

Bahrain submitted its bid a few weeks later.

Bahrain has a Formula 1 Grand Prix and has hosted many major sports events before, most notably in ironman triathlon, major mixed martial arts contests, Asian handball and ju-jitsu, as well as Gulf Cup football.

"I'm happy that weightlifting has now joined that list," said Eshaq, a successful businessman.

"We are spreading the word about weightlifting and that is one of the things we are supposed to be doing."

Two other bids, from Peru and Venezuela, were withdrawn.

Armenia’s chances were not helped by the flag-burning incident in April at the Opening Ceremony for the European Championships which it hosted in its capital city, Yerevan.

An accredited designer who had worked on the opening ceremony ran from the crowd and set fire to an Azerbaijan flag. Armenia and Azerbaijan are neighbours who have no diplomatic relations and a long record of animosity.

Azerbaijan’s team withdrew before the competition, and Armenia did not condemn the act until two days later.

There was never any formal apology.

The 2025 IWF World Championships had already been awarded long in advance to Forde in Norway.