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. In 2021, she secured her first senior international title at the Belgian International. The 2022 season saw Gunji win three more International Challenge titles at the Mexican International, Réunion Open, and Irish Open, while finishing as runner-up at the Indonesia International and Norwegian International. She also reached her first BWF World Tour final at the 2022 Indonesia Masters Super 100, finishing in second place. In team events, she contributed to Japan's bronze medals at both the 2022 Asia Team Championships and the Uber Cup.

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 September, 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.

2024–2025 In 2024, Gunji won her first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters Super 100, defeating compatriot Hina Akechi in the final. On the 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 2025, Gunji began competing in higher-tier World Tour events. She reached the semifinals of the 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. 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 February, she represented Japan at the Asia Team Championships, where the women's team finished fifth. During the European tour in March, Gunji advanced to the second round of the All England Open and reached the quarterfinals of both the Swiss Open and the Orléans Masters. Making her debut at the Asian Championships in April, she defeated Kim Ga-eun in the second round before falling to Wang Zhiyi in the quarterfinals. In May, Gunji contributed to Japan's bronze medal finish at the Uber Cup in Horsens. In July, Gunji won her first Super 300 title at the Canada Open. She defeated home favorite Michelle Li in the semifinals before overcoming Denmark's Line Christophersen in the final. She made her World Championships debut in August, where she was eliminated in the first round.

Achievements World Junior Championships Girls' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 Kazan Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia Zhou Meng 21–13, 12–21, 21–14 Gold

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 Asian Games NH A NH S Uber Cup NH A B NH A NH B

Individual competitions Junior level Events 2018 2019 Ref Asian Junior Championships 1R A World Junior Championships 4R G

Senior level Event 2026 Ref Asian Championships QF World Championships 1R

Tournament BWF World Tour Best Ref 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Malaysia Open A 1R 1R ('26) India Open A 1R 1R ('26) Thailand Masters NH 2R A 2R ('23) German Open A 1R A SF A SF ('25) All England Open A 2R 2R ('26) Swiss Open A 1R A QF QF ('26) Ruichang China Masters NH A 1R A 1R ('24) Orléans Masters A QF QF QF ('25, '26) Thailand Open A 2R 2R 2R ('25, '26) Singapore Open A 2R 2R ('26) Indonesia Open A 1R 1R ('26) Macau Open NH QF SF A SF ('25) U.S. Open NH A QF QF ('26) Canada Open QF A W W ('26) Japan Open A SF 1R SF ('25) China Open NH A 2R 2R 2R ('25, '26) Taipei Open A QF A QF ('25) China Masters NH A 1R 1R 1R ('25, '26) Indonesia Masters Super 100 F QF W A W ('24) A Vietnam Open A 1R A 1R ('23) Arctic Open NH A 2R Q 2R ('25) Denmark Open A 1R Q 1R ('25) French Open A 2R Q 2R ('25) Korea Open A Q ('26) Japan Masters NH 2R Q 2R ('24) Kaohsiung Masters N/A F A F ('23) Hong Kong Open NH A 2R 2R ('25) Spain Masters NH 1R A NH 1R ('23) Year-end ranking 42 103 39 27 27 Tournament 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Best Ref

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.

# Opponent Tournament Score 1 Ratchanok Intanon 8 2023 Swiss Open 1R 21–15 retired 36 2 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 8 2025 Japan Open 1R 21–10, 21–12 32 3 Han Yue 4 2025 Japan Open QF 21–17, 21–10 32 4 Han Yue 5 2026 All England Open 1R 20–22, 21–17, 21–18 26

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

References

External links

Riko Gunji at BWFWorldTourFinals.BWFBadminton.com

Riko Gunji at Badminton Association of Japan

Riko Gunji at J Sports Riko Gunji at Kumamoto Saishunkan Badminton Team Riko Gunji at Smash and Net TV