Rana, who bagged three gold, two silver and one bronze medals in the Commonwealth championships at Langkawi, Malaysia in 1997 besides two gold and two bronze in last year's Commonwealth Games and two silver medals in the Asian Games in December, claimed the biggest purse of Rs 20.28 lakh.

Sikdar, who completed a grand Asian Games middle distance double of 800m And 1,500m In leading India to a rich haul of 35 medals comprising 7 gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze, was second among the top awardees by bagging Rs 11.50 lakhs.

Sethi, who bagged a gold and silver medal in the asian games, received Rs 6.75 lakhs while pravin thipsay collected Rs two lakh for becoming India's third chess grandmaster. In all 153 sportspersons, including 57 women and 49 coaches were awarded cash prizes worth Rs 3.98 crore by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Minister of State for Sports, Uma Bharati, in an impressive function organised by the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports at the Vigyan Bhawan.

The Indian men's hockey team, which regained the Asian Games title after 32 years at Bangkok, the silver winning women's team and tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi, who clinched a historic first Indian Grand Slam title by winning the French Open men's doubles with Leander Paes, were the others honoured.