By John Kwoba

NAIROBI, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Utility players Billy Odhiambo and Oscar Ouma will not be part of Kenya's rugby sevens team, which is set to depart on Sunday for the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco.

Odhiambo has a hand injury while Ouma has personal commitments that have ruled him out of the squad.

The team reached the semifinals of the previous two editions in 2009 in Dubai and 2013 in Russia.

The World Cup will have a total of 24 teams and Kenya will start its campaign with a match against Tonga and the winner of the match will then proceed to play Scotland.

Kenya has had a good campaign in the World Series and came close to winning the main cup in Vancouver, Canada and Hong Kong.

Speaking after naming the squad, head coach Innocent Simiyu was confident in his side. "We have a very strong squad based on training. The guys have really trained hard and we believe we have selected the best team that can represent the country. We are looking for good performances from the players and hopefully we can get some good results," Simiyu said on Thursday evening in Nairobi.

Unlike the last two World Cups, where it was played on a tournament basis, with teams paired in groups, this year's event has a knockout format and each team needs to give its best in every match.

"It is an interesting format. This being a knockout means that you have to adapt to the chaos in the game because if the game goes it goes and you have to keep winning to stay in it. The first game versus Tonga will be very critical," Simiyu said.

Kenya will play their first game against Tonga on July 20.