Kenya rank ninth ahead of Sevens World Cup in San Franscico

NAIROBI, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's good run in the rugby Sevens World Series has seen the country seeded ninth for the World Cup, which will be held in San Francisco, USA from July 20-22.

This year's tournament will see eight quarter-finalists from last Sevens World Cup in 2013 and hosts USA qualify automatically. They will be joined by the four highest ranked teams outside of these nations on the World Rugby Sevens Series 2016-17 season.

The remaining 11 teams successfully negotiated the regional qualification process.

"The top 14 seeds are ranked according to points accrued on the 2016-17 series and first seven rounds of 2018 in Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Hong Kong," said a statement by Kenya Rugby Union.

The other 10 teams are ranked according to their placing in last weekend's World Series qualifier in Hong Kong, which has Tonga seeded 24th having not taken part in that event.

World Rugby Sevens Series leaders South Africa are top seeds with Olympic champions Fiji seeded second.

Defending Rugby World Cup Sevens champions New Zealand are seeded third ahead of the side they beat in that 2013 final, England.

Host nation USA, who were victorious in the recent Las Vegas round of the World Rugby Sevens Series, are the fifth seeds.

Kenya are in Gold Coast, Australia for the Commonwealth Games this weekend before resuming their battle in the World Series in Singapore next week.

There are three more legs remaining in Singapore, Landon and Paris before the World Cup. Enditem