Réunion swept their opponents to secure the title at the Women's IHF Nations Trophy - Africa Zone VII.

The competition saw five teams battle for the top place between 30 September and 4 October, in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, with the hosts joined by Réunion, Comoros, Mayotte and Seychelles.

The format was a simple round-robin group, where every team played against each other and the final standings decided by the number of points secured in the group play.

Réunion started off strong and took a clear 38:29 win against Mayotte in the maiden match of the competition, after dominating the encounter from start to finish, providing an excellent attacking display.

From the get-go, it was clear that the battle for the title will be between the eventual winners and hosts Madagascar, after the latter also cleared a 30:10 win against Seychelles in their opener.

Réunion had then all but three of their players score at least one goal in the win against Seychelles, 48:6, while in the next matchday, Madagascar tied Réunion on points with a hard-fought 30:25 win against Comoros, where the opponents led in the first half by three goals, 12:9.

After Madagascar also resisted a comeback of Mayotte, and secured a 32:30 win and Réunion clinched their third win in a row against Comoros, 31:22, the last day of the competition was going to decide the winner, in the match between the teams with the immaculate performance so far.

But a strong start from Réunion saw them take an early 8:4 lead in the match, with Madagascar unable to answer. As the hosts had only five players on the scoresheet, with Fidelicia Valerie Ravololonirina and Victorine Eliane scoring seven goals each, the hosts had little chance to mount a comeback, being down 15:7 at the break.

Seven goals from Sorenza Blin and five from Mahona Kerbidi were enough to fuel Réunion to a 25:17 win, as they managed the gap from the first half to perfection, jumping to the first place in the standings and securing the title.

Madagascar finished second in the standings, with six points, followed by Comoros, who had four points, Mayotte, on two points, and Seychelles, finishing on the last place.

Comoros’ Mounia Ali Mze was the top scorer of the competition, with 39 goals, followed by Fidelicia Valerie Ravololonirina and Victorine Eliane from Madagascar, with 35 and 25 goals respectively.