Team Kenya will face Malta, Algeria and Zimbabwe in Pool 'E' of the Euro – Africa group 3 Billie Jean King Cup tournament that kickoffs today in Vilnius, Lithuania
The team will be eyeing promotion to Group 2 following a dismal campaign two years ago in Montenegro where they finished 12th.
Kenya will open its campaign against Malta, then face Algeria and will close out their preliminaries fixtures against Zimbabwe.
To date, Kenya have recorded three wins in Billie Jean King Cup – against Cyprus in 1995 and 2005 and against Iceland in 2017.
The country's top-ranked junior Angela Okutoyi, who is based at the ITF training centre in Casablanca, Morocco will spearhead the onslaught alongside Alicia Owegi, Rosehilda Asumwa and Cynthia Cheruto.
Coach Francis Rogoi expressed confidence that his charges can improve on their 12th position two years ago.
“We are taking one game at a time. We have trained hard and arrived in good time to acclimatise on the surface and I hope the girls can deliver," said Rogoi
Rogoi said Owegi, Asumwa and Cheruto have played a couple of tournaments in the past three months and he expects that to boost their morale ahead of the tournament, formerly known as the Fed Cup.
The trio has been training at the Nairobi Club and Rogoi said training on murram surface will aid their push when they encounter clay surface in Lithuania.
“The girls are in good shape and we have one more week to finalise on our training as we look to compete against some good teams,” he added.
Pool 'A' features, Norway, North Macedonia, Albania while Cyprus headline Pool 'B' and will face off against Bosnia and Rwanda. Hosts Lithuania are in Pool 'C' alongside Kosovo and Nigeria.
Ghana face a stern test against Ireland, Armenia and Iceland with South Africa favourites in Pool 'F' where they face Montenegro, Namibia and Azerbaijan,
Group winners will contest in a play-offs draw to determine which two teams are promoted.