Mehrens, chairman of the German Wheelchair Sports Association (DRS), will serve as President for the next four years after being elected to replace Orchard, who stood down from the role.

Orchard had been IWBF President since being first elected to the role at the 2002 World Congress in Japan, when she took over from Briton Sir Philip Craven who went on to become President of the International Paralympic Committee.

Orchard decided not to run this time around after been re-elected to the post in 2006 and 2010.

She has instead been appointed as the new secretary general of the organisation.

Mehrens, 59, previously served as vice-president of the IWBF, and immediately outlined his main priorities for the organisation moving forward.

"Firstly, we need to build professional structures away from volunteerism; [second] to improve communication internally and externally, and (lastly) to move our office to Germany to work more cooperatively here with FIBA (International Basketball Federation)," he said.

The IWBF Congress in Incheon coincided with the staging of the men's World Championships, which saw Australia retain their world title with a win over the United States.

Canadian Steve Bach replaces Mehrens as IWBF vice-president, while Craig Moorgas of South Africa was elected treasurer.

Francisca Ravestein of The Netherlands will chair the Committee for Legal Matters and Eligibility, with Britain's Charlie Bethel elected to the same role on the Competition Committee.

Norbert Kucera of Germany and Don Perriman from Australia were re-elected to their same positions leading the Technical and Classification Commissions respectively for further four-year terms.

In addition, Toufic Allouche from Lebanon and Turkey's Demirhan Serefhan were elected as new Members-at-Large.

The Executive Council is completed by the Presidents of the four IWBF regional zones with Moroccan Hamid El Aouni representing Africa; Dick Bryant of the US representing the Americas; South Korea's Kang In Duk for Asia Oceania while Europe is represented by Dutchman Jan Berteling.

The IWBF also announced that Laos, Myanmar, North Korea, Senegal and Hungary have been recognised as new members bringing the total membership up to 98 nations.

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