With his fourth gold medal in the event secured, Barshim then narrowly failed to set a world-leading mark for the year, knocking the bar off with his calves on the third attempt at 2.40m. 

"The goal today was the gold," the 24-year-old Barshim, Qatar's best hope for an Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, said.

I am really happy with 2.35m, it's a good height.

"I am not disappointed [at not setting a new world-leading mark].

"I just gave it a shot, it was good."

Syria's Majededdin Ghazal won the silver medal, jumping 2.28m, and Sri Lanka's Manjula Kumara cleared 2.24m for the bronze.

The other performance to catch the eye came in the women's pole vault where China's Li Ling cleared 4.70m and added 19 centimes to her own Asian record set in Xianlin a year ago.

“I was ready to jump 4.80m, but even 4.70m, a new absolute Area record, is a very satisfying result,” said the 26-year-old Li.

“It was only my first competition indoors this year and I hope I will jump higher in Portland [at the World Indoor Championships] when it matters most."

Li's compatriot Ren Mengqian finished second with a 4.30m clearance and Japan’s Tomomi Abiko was third with 4.15m.

Qatar's hopes in the 60 metres suffered a setback when the three-time gold medallist Samuel Francis and team-mate Tosin Ogunode were both disqualified in the semi-finals for false starts.

In their absence, Iran's Hassan Hossein Taftian won the gold medal and set a Championship record of 6.56sec. 

He beat team-mate Reza Ali Ghasei by a tenth of a second with Eric Shauwn Brazas of Philippines winning the bronze medal in 6.70.

The women’s 60m title went to Kazakhstan's Viktoriya Zyabkina, who beat China's Yuan Qiqi in a photo-finish after both were given the same time of 7.27. 

India's Dutee Chand won the bronze medal in 7.37.  

Kazakhstan's Olympic triple jump gold medallist Olga Rypakova also suffered a surprise defeat, albeit in her secondary event, the long jump.

She could finish only third in a competition won by India's Maookha Johny, who jumped 6.35m.

She beat Vietnam's Bui Thi Thu Thao, who jumped 6.30m. 

Other winners on the opening day of these Championships included the Ethiopian-born Bethlem Desalegn, winner of the women's 1500m in 4min 21.65sec, claiming the United Arab Emirates' first-ever medal at this event. 

China’s Geng Shuang, meanwhile, clinched the gold medal in shot put with a distance of 18.06m.

The Championships, which are due to finish on Sunday (February 21), have attracted 300 athletes from 36 countries.