He enjoyed his first regional successes in 2007 – he set a Qatari record of 2.24 metres to take the gold medal at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games (a mark which was also a Games record). He represented Qatar at the 2007 Pan Arab Games in November and won a silver medal behind Salem Al-Anezi, with a jump of 2.17 m. A few months later, he returned to action with an appearance at the 2008 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in his hometown. The high jump gold went to Sergey Zasimovich but Al-Mannai still reached the podium, taking the bronze medal.