Africa Cup champions Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tunisia women's sides have confirmed participation in the Safari Sevens slated for October 11-13 in Machakos.
Safari Sevens' Organising Committee chairman, Moses Ndale, said the three sides have confirmed but more are expected in the next fortnight.
“It will be good to have Uganda coming. They are the Africa Sevens champions and they will be a formidable test for our Shujaa and Morans. We have had great battles with them in the last couple of years and it will be interesting to face them again. Zimbabwe too are a top team and are always competitive,” added Ndale.
Shujaa will use the tournament to fine-tune their final squad for the HSBC World Sevens Series, which starts in December with the Dubai Sevens leg.
Uganda and Zimbabwe will be using the tournament to prepare for the Challenger Sevens Series, which kicks off in January as they attempt to become core members of the World Sevens Series for the 2025-2026 season.
On why the tournament has been moved to Machakos for the first time— away from its traditional base in Nairobi, Ndale said: "Machakos emerges as the ideal host, offering a contemporary ambience and is feasible for fans and players as accommodation and other essential services are easily available."
The advance regular ticket prices will retail at Sh500 per day as the VIP's advance ticket will sell at Sh 1000 per day. The advance regular season ticket will sell at Sh1000 while the advance VIP season will sell at Sh2000.
Regular ticket prices will sell at Sh750 at the gate while VIP tickets will retail at 1500 at the gate. Ndale expressed delight that the union will stage a successful tournament.
“We are looking forward to having a great tournament and I would like to appeal to fans to turn up in large numbers. This is the premier Sevens tournament on the continent and we expect it to be a big success."
Kenya will be represented by Shujaa, who are the defending champions, Morans and National Sevens Circuit winners Quins. Lionesses will feature in the women's category.
Kenya Lionesses are seeking to wrestle the women's title from Uganda and will also face a tough test from the fast-improving Tunisia side among other teams. The national Sevens sides are expected to start their training next week for the three-day rugby extravaganza.
