Not to be left behind, the Indian Hockey Federation announced a cash prize of Rs one lakh each for the hockey team for winning the gold after a 32 year hiatus. This amount is much higher than the Rs one lakh, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 awarded by the government to medal winners at international competitions so far.

Making the announcement while addressing the Asian Games medal winners at his residence this morning, Vajpayee exhorted the sportspersons to ``aim bigger'' for richer laurels.

``We should not become a nation of alp santushti (easily satisfied) and must set our goals much higher,'' Vajpayee said. The prime minister, who received each medalist personally, said the haul of seven gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze medals in Bangkok showed Indian sportspersons were inferior to none andwith better infrastructure and training, were capable of touching dizzy heights at the international level.

Gold medalists Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, N G Dingko Singh, Geet Sethi and Ashok Shandilya, and the entire hockey and kabaddi teams were present at the function.