Emmanuel Bugingo, the director of sports at the Ministry of Sports and Culture has urged the Rwanda Volleyball Federation to send many players for professional ranks.

Bugingo made the remarks as the Ministry and federation officials welcomed the national team back from the just concluded 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championships qualifiers on Wednesday. The qualifiers were won by hosts Cameroon. Rwanda finished third behind Algeria but ahead of Nigeria and Gabon.

"If you have many players, who are playing outside the country, it helps the national team to do much better. So we need to invest in sending more players to play at the professional level,” Bugingo told the players and their coaching staff at Sports View hotel.

Bugingo noted that the team did well; losing only one game out of four played. "The boys tried their best and we should thank the team for the hard effort,” he said.

Rwanda beat Cameron, Gabon and Nigeria 3-1 respectively but lost the opening game against Algeria, which cost Paul Bitok’s side a chance to book a ticket for the world championships. Cameroon became the second country to receive that ticket after Egypt.

Qualifiers in Pool Y will be played in Tunisia starting March 2-8 with the hosts competing against Seychelles, Senegal, and Congo Brazzaville for the third slot.