Tianjin Bohai Bank of China scored its first victory, beating Dentil Praia Clube of Brazil 3-2 at the FIVB Women's Club World Championship in Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Thursday evening.

For another full-set match, Tianjin, who lost its opener to Igor Gorgonzola Novara of Italy 3-2, became victorious this time, winning 25-21, 25-19, 22-25, 16-25, 16-14.

However, Tianjin had the worst news as star spiker Zhu Ting, who had 19 points, suffered an injury to her right wrist. Zhu left the court at the end of the third set and returned later on but sat out the whole decisive fifth set.

"It was a tough game but I am very happy to win this match. I had an old injury in the wrist and it recurred, so I need to get treatment and see if I will be fit to play in the next match," said Zhu, captain of the Tianjin club.

Throughout the match, Tianjin had 12 blocks against six for Praia, and scored 25 points against 19 from opponents' errors.

Li Yingying made a team-high 23 points for Tianjin, with Destinee Hooker adding 19, and Wang Yuanyuan contributing with nine points.

Coach Chen Youquan said: "I am happy with the winning result. My players did a great job in service and they worked hard to win this match."

"On the injuries during the match, it was difficult to play but this gave an opportunity to young players to step up. The young players helped a lot considering the high pressure against a strong team. This was a good experience for them. Li Yingying played very well in reception, attack and blocking. This was a good experience for her as well."

Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez scored a match-high 24 points for Praia, with teammate Fernanda Rodrigues adding 20 points.

The Brazilian club's captain Walewska Oliveira said: "We knew it's a difficult match because we are playing a home team and they played very fast. However, we prepared well against them, we had good cooperation in this match. I am proud of my teammates because they fought hard in the third and fourth sets but unfortunately we lost the last set."

Earlier in the afternoon, Igor Gorgonzola Novara of Italy had its second full-set victory, beating Vakifbank Istanbul of Turkey 25-21, 25-22, 25-27, 24-26, and 15-12 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Even after losing the third set 25-27, the Italian team still looked to be on the way to an easy success as the reigning European champions established a 16-6 lead in the fourth set, which Vakifbank astonishingly rallied to tie 23-all and took it 26-24.

However, Navara who won its opener 3-2 against Tianjin from two sets down on Tuesday, survived the tough challenge from the Turks as they led 10-5 en route to the 15-12 win in the decisive fifth set.

So far, Novara and Vakifbank had four points apiece, Tianjin accumulated three points and Praia scored its first point.

For the last round of Pool B matches on Friday, Novara will take on Praia in the afternoon, while Tianjin plays Vakifbank in the evening.

After the single round-robin format, the top two teams from every pool will advance to the semifinals, with the last two teams from each of the pools vying for the 5-8 places.

(With input from Xinhua)