The East African nation are the favourite for gold in Gabarone in the absence of defending champions South Africa.

Kenya won their opening game 41-0 with Senegal before a 42-0 thrashing of Madagascar.

There were some tightly contested matches elsewhere on day one of the two-day event.

Uganda beat Zimbabwe 20-7 but were then held to a 10-10 draw by Tunisia, who had thrashed Zimbabwe 31-7.

Zambia edged Morocco 26-22 before a 5-5 draw with the hosts Botswana.

Botswana also beat Mauritius 15-10 today while Madagascar also thrashed Senegal 40-0.

Morocco were the day's other winners with a 24-5 success over Mauritius.

Action will continue tomorrow with knock-out rounds.

South Africa withdrew to focus upon the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco in July.