Riko Gunji
Riko Gunji is a Japanese badminton player. She is the gold medalist at the 2019 BWF World Junior Championships in the girls' singles.
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.
2023
Gunji began the 2023 season by reaching the second round of the Thailand Masters. She then competed in Europe, exiting in the first round of the German Open by then-world No. 2 An Se-young and advanced to the second round of the Swiss Open. At the Spain Masters, she retired from her opening match after sustaining a right hamstring muscle tear. This injury required a six-month break, causing her world ranking to fall from the 30s to over 100. She returned to competition in, reaching the quarterfinals of the Super 100 Indonesia Masters and finishing as the runner-up at the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters. In late October, Gunji suffered a second injury: a sprained right ankle with partial tears to two ligaments.2024
In 2024, Gunji secured her first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, defeating Hina Akechi in the final. On the BWF International Challenge circuit, she won four titles: the Thailand International, Denmark Challenge, Saipan International, and Malaysia International. Additionally, she was the runner-up at the Luxembourg Open. In other BWF World Tour events, Gunji reached the quarterfinals of the Macau Open and advanced to the second round at the Japan Masters.2025
Gunji began the 2025 season with a semifinal appearance at the Super 300 German Open, followed by quarterfinal finishes at the Orléans Masters and the Taipei Open. In July, she reached her first Super 750 semifinal at the Japan Open, defeating fourth seed Han Yue in the quarterfinals before losing to world No. 1 An Se-young. She then competed in her first Super 1000 tournament at the China Open, where she was eliminated in the second round by eventual champion Wang Zhi Yi.Achievements
World Junior Championships
Girls' singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Kazan Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia |  BWF World Tour (1 title, 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. The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.Women's singles
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