Bhubaneswar, Feb 13 (IANS): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday inaugurated the Dharani Dhar Sports Complex in Keonjhar.

The sports complex will help sports aficionado of the region, which has produced many national and international-level players.

This sports complex will play a key role in developing the sports ecosystem, particularly for football, athletics and archery, which are popular in the region.

The new multi-sport complex features a natural turf football field, 400-metre synthetic track with LED floodlights as well as a 1,000 seating capacity gallery. Additionally, an archery arena has been developed for budding and talented archers to pursue the sport professionally, said an official.

The complex also has an indoor hall with six badminton courts and is complemented with a 200-bed fully-furnished residential facility for both boys and girls and the staff, he said.

The campus is spread over nine acres and has been developed at a cost of over Rs 35 crore.

Over the recent years, Odisha's performance has improved in sports and now more and more school children and youth are showing interest to take up sports.