The country’s golden boy Neeraj Chopra, who brought home a gold medal ending the country's wait for over a century for an Olympic medal in athletics, on Wednesday met Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here.

At his official residence here, the Chief Minister welcomed Neeraj Chopra with a bouquet and honoured him by giving him a shawl and memento.  He also presented the holy book Shrimad Bhagavad Gita to Neeraj.

The Chief Minister also honoured Neeraj's uncle Bhim Chopra, who had accompanied him by presenting him a shawl.

During the conversation, Bhim Chopra invited the Chief Minister to come to their native village Khandra in Panipat district, responding to which the Chief Minister assured that he would soon make a programme for the same.

The Chief Minister said that Neeraj's family has a big contribution towards his achievement.  It is because of the contribution of the family, Neeraj had made the nation and Haryana proud, he said.

In the detailed conversation with Neeraj, Khattar also learned about his experiences.

Later interacting with mediapersons, the Chief Minister said that developing Haryana as a sports hub is the utmost priority of the State Government.  For this, exemplary players like Neeraj Chopra will certainly play a pivotal role to inspire the younger generation, he said.

Replying to a question, Khattar said that villagers of other players have also met him and they have also given good suggestions to promote sports.  Necessary facilities will be provided by the government to promote sports.

He said that the Centre of Excellence for Athletics being set up in Panchkula would prove to be effective for the promotion of sports.

Later in the day, the Chief Minister visited Nahri village in Sonipat district to attend the felicitation ceremony of Ravi Dahiya, who became the second Indian wrestler after Sushil Kumar to have won an Olympic silver medal.

MY FOCUS IS ON NEXT YEAR'S GAMES: CHOPRA

The 23-year-old javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra said that after winning the Olympic gold medal at Tokyo Olympics, his focus is now on next year's Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championships.

"I will now focus on bettering my performance and prepare for next year’s tournaments," he said while talking to the mediapersons here.

"It is a great feeling that today I am meeting the Chief Minister. I will try my level best to make Haryana and the nation proud in the upcoming sports events," he added.

He said that my sport was not very popular. Despite this, I have given my best to the country by bagging a medal. If children and budding players take inspiration from this success and bring glory for the nation at the international level in the days to come, that will be the biggest gift for me in the future," the gold medallist added.

Neeraj, who could not attend a felicitation function organized by the State Government on August 13 due to illness, said only sports-related topics were discussed during his meeting with the Chief Minister.

After his win at Olympics, a cash reward of Rs 6 crore along with a job was given to him by the State Government under the sports policy.

Neeraj also thanked the Chief Minister for the decision to especially honour women hockey players after their performance at Olympics.

At Raj Bhawan, the Governor also honoured Chopra by presenting him a shawl and an idol of Lord Tirupati Balaji. He also offered him special ‘Desi Ghee Churma’. Dattatraya conveyed his best wishes and blessings to  Chopra for his future endeavours.

Neeraj also called on Director General of Police (DGP) Prashanta Kumar Agrawal at Police Headquarters in Panchkula. The DGP congratulated him for his accomplishment and for making the nation proud.

Extending best wishes for his sporting career, the DGP also expressed hope that Neeraj would once again bring glory to the nation by achieving his target of 90 metre javelin throw in the days to come.

Notably, the javelin thrower had made history in his Olympic debut becoming India’s first track and field medalist, and only the second individual gold medalist after Abhinav Bindra’s shooting gold for India in the 2008 Olympic Games.