Riko Gunji

is a Japanese badminton player who competes in women's singles. A member of the Japanese national team, she plays for the Kumamoto Saishunkan team and has reached a career-high world ranking of No. 18. She is the gold medalist at the 2019 BWF World Junior Championships in the girls' singles. She secured her maiden BWF World Tour title at the 2024 Indonesia Masters Super 100 and won her first Super 300 title at the 2026 Canada Open. In team competitions, she was a member of the Japanese squad that won gold at the 2020 Asia Team Championships and earned bronze medals at the 2022 and 2026 Uber Cup.

Career Gunji was the finalist in the Under-15 at the 2016 Singapore Youth International Series. In the same tournament, she won the girls' doubles title with partner Akari Nakashizu. She was the girls' singles Under-17 champion of 2017 Singapore Youth International Series beating Peeraya Khantaruangsakul of Thailand. She won the bronze medal in 2018 BWF World Junior Championships mixed team event. In the girls' singles, she lost in the second round to China's Wang Zhiyi.

In 2019, she reached the final of Dutch Junior International where she earned second best position after losing to China's Han Qianxi. She lost another final at the India Junior International event to Thai player Benyapa Aimsaard. In 2019 World Junior Championships, she entered the tournament seeded 7th. She went on to stun several higher seeded players in the tournament. She defeated Thailand's Phittayaporn Chaiwan in semifinal, who was a top seeded player in 2 straight games. In the final she won the World Junior title, beating out China's Zhou Meng.

2020–2022 Moving to senior competition, Gunji was part of the Japanese women's team that won gold at the 2020 Asia Team Championships. This injury required a six-month break, causing her world ranking to fall from the 30s to over 100. She returned to competition in September, reaching the quarterfinals of the Super 100 Indonesia Masters and finishing as the runner-up at the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters.

2024–2025 In 2024, Gunji won her first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, defeating compatriot Hina Akechi in the final. Later that year, Gunji made her Super 1000 debut at the China Open, where she was eliminated in the second round by eventual champion Wang Zhiyi.

2026 Gunji began her 2026 season in January with first-round exits at two consecutive tournaments, the Malaysia Open and the India Open. In May, Gunji contributed to Japan's bronze medal finish at the Uber Cup in Horsens.

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 2 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2022 Indonesia Masters Super 100 Gao Fangjie 10–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2023 Kaohsiung Masters Super 100 Liang Ting-yu 20–22, 21–15, 14–21 Runner-up 2024 (I) Indonesia Masters Super 100 Hina Akechi 21–10, 22–20 Winner 2026 Canada Open Super 300 Line Christophersen 21–15, 15–21, 21–6 Winner

BWF International Challenge/Series (8 titles, 3 runners-up) Women's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result Ref 2021 Belgian International Hsu Wen-chi 12–21, 21–16, 23–21 Winner 2022 Mexican International Natsuki Nidaira 21–14, 19–21, 21–14 Winner 2022 Réunion Open Natsuki Oie 21–5, 21–14 Winner 2022 (II) Indonesia International Gao Fangjie 9–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2022 Norwegian International Natsuki Nidaira 21–14, 18–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2022 Irish Open Natsuki Nidaira 21–13, 21–11 Winner 2024 Thailand International Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari 21–14, 21–15 Winner 2024 Luxembourg Open Hina Akechi 16–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2024 Denmark Challenge Hina Akechi 20–22, 21–16, 21–11 Winner 2024 Saipan International Asuka Takahashi 21–14, 14–21, 21–16 Winner 2024 Malaysia International Ruzana 19–21, 21–15, 21–11 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

BWF Junior International (2 runners-up) Girls' singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 Dutch Junior International Han Qianxi 13–21, 21–23 Runner-up 2019 India Junior International Benyapa Aimsaard 19–21, 21–18, 21–23 Runner-up BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament

Performance timeline

National team Junior level Team events 2018 2019 Ref Asian Junior Championships S QF World Junior Championships B B

Senior level Team events 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Ref Asia Team Championships G NH B NH A NH 5th Uber Cup NH A B NH A NH B

Individual competitions Junior level

Wins over top-10 ranked players Wins over players who were ranked in the world's top 10 at the time the match was played.

Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 24 July 2026.

Player Matches Win Lost Han Yue 3 2 1 +1 Wang Zhiyi 3 0 3 –3 P. V. Sindhu 1 0 1 –1 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 1 1 0 +1 Putri Kusuma Wardani 4 3 1 +2

Player Matches Win Lost Aya Ohori 1 0 1 –1 Nozomi Okuhara 1 0 1 –1 Akane Yamaguchi 2 0 2 –2 An Se-young 2 0 2 –2 Ratchanok Intanon 2 1 1 0