THE handball caretaker committee has described the Open Knockout Competition played over the weekend at the Palais des Sports as a success.

According to Helmy Riaze, member of the committee, many talents were discovered during the two-day competition and he was satisfied with the level of participation.

"The competition has simply proved that there are many young people who are interested in the sport and such competition should be organised on a regular basis" he said.

The competition attracted three female and five male teams.

The women's competition was played on a round robin format whereby each of the three teams played each other once. The top two teams in each pool qualified for a place in the final.

For the men's competition the five teams where divided into two pools - A and B and the top two finishers in each pool qualified for the cross-knockout semifinal.

Pool A comprised Crackers, Mc Boys and Boys while Pool B was made of Log on and Brothers.

In the women's final Anse Royale who collected three victories in as many matches had to work very hard to pull off a 7-4 win over a determined Plaisance.

To qualify for a place in the final, Anse Royale first defeated Mont Fleuri 9-5 before eliminating Plaisance 12-4 in their second match.

As for the other finalists, Plaisance, their only win was against Mont Fleuri on a 7-4 score.

In the men's final, Log on boosting some of the men's top flight basketball teams in Ascot top striker Malagasy Paul Ratsimbazafy 'Koja' and former Premium Cobras stylish centre Alberto Didi had to work very hard to pull of a 12-11 victory over Bothers.

To book their tickets for the final Log on, who topped pool B, overpowered Boys 15-7 in the first semifinal while Brothers featuring some of the countries division 1A basketballers in the like of PLS Hawks' centre Emmanuelle Larue and MBU Rockers diminutive playmakers, Nigel Sinon and Elvis Gappy beat Crackers 12-8 in the second semifinal.