NAIROBI, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's good performance in the rugby World Series has seen it seeded first in the upcoming Africa Cup Sevens tournament, which will be held in Tunisia next month.
It will be the last competition for coach Innocent Simiyu, who will step down at the end of October.
However, the coach says the team, which moved to camp on Wednesday, will be in top form for the tournament that runs in Monastir, Tunisia on Oct. 13-14.
Kenya is in the process to recruit a new head coach with seven international candidates having put in their applications. New coach will take over from Nov. 1.
A total of 12 teams have confirmed participation and Kenya will have to be at their best form if they are to beat giants Morocco and Botswana in Pool A.
"We have resumed training from Wednesday in readiness for this assignment. The players are all developing after the recess and hopefully will be in top form as we arrive in Tunisia," said Coach Simiyu on Thursday in Nairobi.
Defending champions Uganda headline Pool B which also features Senegal and Ghana while Zimbabwe, hosts Tunisia and Mauritius make up Pool C. Pool D comprises Madagascar, Namibia and Zambia.
Kenya will be keen to reclaim the trophy they lost to Uganda in the semifinal of the tournament in 2016 in Nairobi as part of the Kenya's Safari Sevens competition. In 2017, Kenya skipped that year's Africa Cup, held in Uganda.
The tournament was then used as a qualifier for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, which Kenya had already qualified for owing to its top ranking in the World Series.
Kenya named a team of 41 players to start training for the upcoming season. Coach Simiyu, however, will not have five utility players who have been omitted from the squad that is in training.
They are captain Oscar Ayodi, his deputy Oscar Ouma Samuel Ng'ethe, Arthur Owira and Samuel Oliech.
They will be using the tournament to prepare for the start of the World Seven Series in December in Dubai and in Cape Town a week later.
Last year, the team finished the World Series circuit with highest-ever points total of 104 under coach Simiyu.
Kenya will also compete in the Safaricom Sevens tourney, which will have eight international teams in Nairobi on Nov. 9-11.
Among the teams that have been invited include Portugal, Namibia, Ireland, Wales, South Africa, Spain, USA and Uganda.
