By John Kwoba

NAIROBI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan women's Sevens rugby coach Kevin Wambua is upbeat about his side's chances ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens.

The team hopes to attain World Rugby Sevens Series “core status” and Wambua is confident Kenya will beat the odds to join their male colleagues at the top tier of the World Rugby competition.

"It is not something impossible. It has been our long term goal to get into the World Series as a core team and the growth we have achieved can help spur us to this level," the coach told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Kenya will face South Africa, Mexico and Papua New Guinea in Pool A and the coach is optimistic his side will reach the main cup quarters. "We are in a balanced pool and other than Papua New Guinea, we have faced Mexico and South Africa before. Based on the work we have constantly been putting in in training, we shall return results on day one to first qualify for the quarters and challenge from there heading into the knockouts," said Wambua.

After Hong Kong, Kenya will head to the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast in Australia (April 13-15).

This is the first time women's rugby is featuring at the Commonwealth Games.

The coach has not made any major changes in the team with the experienced Doreen Remour, Philadelphia Olando and Celestine Masinde and Janet Okello all being included. Enditem