Bio

A pair of standout badminton players at El Camino College, Minako Akiyama and Phyrun Than reached the top stage for their sport during their time with the Warriors. Tran advanced to the CCCAA State Championship Final as the No. 3 overall seeded player in 2001. She eventually finished as the runner up to Cynthia Tran of Orange Coast College.

The next year, Akiyama joined Tran on the team and the duo advanced to the 2002 CCCAA doubles state championship match, falling to Lili Zhou and Ruby Hall of Irvine Valley in three sets. In 2003, Akiyama picked up where Tran left off on the singles side, advancing to the finals of the CCCAA State Championships. Akiyama dominated the match, earning a 2-0 win (11-3, 11-5) over Rulan Yeh of Irvine Valley to secure the state title.