Greater Accra Region emerged champions in both the Boys and Girls edition of the maiden National Schools and Colleges Best Four Regions Handball championship played at the Ghana Prisons Service Handball Court in Accra on Sunday.

The competition which was sponsored by the French Embassy, saw the Greater Accra Boys beating Central Region by 17 goals to 13 while the Girls trounced their Central Regional counterparts 16-11.

Northern Region beat Ashanti Region 13-8 to take the third position in the Boys category while Ashanti defeated Northern 17-9 to place third in the Girls event.

In an address, read for him, Mr Rashid Bawa, Minister of State in charge of Education, Youth and Sports, said the ministry is making every effort to lift Ghana sports from the doldrums.

He said with the revival of the Security Services Sports Association (SESSA) Games which was suspended for more than a decade and the revival of the Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Games Ghana would soon be back as a top sporting nation.

Mr Bawa called on the participants to be disciplined in order not to ruin their career of becoming top level performers.

The minister praised the French Embassy and the Ghana Education Service for taking such a bold initiative to popularise the game in schools. He expressed the hope that it would impact positively on national standards.

Mildred Kunyena of St Francis Girls Secondary School at Jirapa in the Upper West Region and Master David Sowah of Accra Academy who would be representing Ghana in the Olympic Youth Camp at the Olympic Games in Athens were presented with their files by Mr B.T. Baba, Chairman of the Handball Association.