Riko Gunji


Riko Gunji is a Japanese badminton player.

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.

Achievements

World Junior Championships

Girls' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2019Kazan Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia Zhou Meng21–13, 12–21, 21–14 Gold

BWF Junior International (2 runners-up)

Girls' singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2019Dutch Junior International Han Qianxi13–21, 21–23 Runner-up
2019India Junior International Benyapa Aimsaard19–21, 21–18, 21–23 Runner-up