Gaborone (Botswana), Jan 31 (IANS): The Botswana men's volleyball squad left for Algeria for preparations ahead of the third and final round of the FIVB World Championships 2014 African qualifiers in Kenya.

The 15-men team have promised to pull all stops to ensure qualification and are working hard to make history as this will be their first ever appearance at the big stage, reported Xinhua.

"Our camp in Algeria is aimed at giving the players an opportunity to gauge their strength against giants in volleyball," Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) technical officer Mission Mereyotlhe said Thursday, adding playing against Algeria will provide them with a perfect opportunity to plot against Egypt.

Botswana are drawn alongside Egypt, Zambia, Cape Verde and hosts Kenya in Pool U. Over the weekend, Botswana had an international friendly against Rwanda here.

Winners of Pool U qualify for the World Championships where they will join Pool A to face hosts Poland, Argentina, Serbia, Australia and Venezuela in the tournament that runs from Aug 30 to Sep 21.

Botswana will start its qualification journey Feb 5.