Zimbabwe men's 7s rugby team coach Ricky Chirengende says his target is to win the Rugby Africa Cup tournament which kicked off Saturday in Mauritius.

Zimbabwe is seeking to revive itself after a poor show on home soil last year when they were hosts.

The 12-team tournament will see the top two teams qualifying for the 2025 Challenge Series.

"We have two targets, the first one is to win the Africa Cup.

"We came here to be champions of Africa and that is the big objective.

"Secondly is to qualify for the Challenge Series and these two are the two massive objectives we are hoping to achieve here, " said Chirengende.

The Cheetahs are in Pool C at the tournament with Algeria, Ghana and Zambia.

Pool A consists of hosts Mauritius, Nigeria, Madagascar and defending champions Kenya, while Pool B has Uganda, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

Chirengende selected a youthful squad for the tournament which will see nearly half of the squad making their debuts.

Among those selected are former Junior Sables players Edward Sigauke, Shadreck Mandaza, Dion Khumalo, Kholwani Moyo and Allan Mawunga.

"They might be young but they have been selected because they are good enough to play.

"It is a big stage but you can only see how good these players are if we throw them in.

"So I'm quite confident in the group, yes they are a young side but I'm really confident they will deliver," added the coach.

This year's edition will be played in two phases, the first one will be played on Saturday 29 of June to Sunday the 30th of June, while the second one will be played the following weekend 6 and 7 July.