TTBL: Hiroto Shinozuka leaving Grünwettersbach after 2025-26 season

ASC Grünwettersbach star Hiroto Shinozuka will leave the club at the end of the 2025-26 season, Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) announced in a press release on Wednesday.

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Shinozuka will continue his table tennis career in his home country of Japan, per Grünwettersbach managing director Martin Werner. His departure from Grünwettersbach comes nearly 14 months after he signed with the club in Jan. 2025.

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“Overall, I had hoped for more,” Werner said in an interview with TTBL. “He had actually already promised for next season, but will now return to Japan.”

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Shinozuka held an individual record of 12:9 at the time his decision was announced, making him the Bundesliga’s No. 18 player. Shinozuka entered Dec. 2025 with an individual record of 9:4 before losing five of his last eight matchups.

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The 22-year-old has two wins over Borussia Düsseldorf’s Kanak Jha, the Bundesliga’s No. 7 player. He also defeated TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt’s Adrien Rassenfosse (No. 68) and TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell’s Jonathan Groth (No. 54) in his first full season with Grünwettersbach.

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Shinozuka ranks as the No. 33 Men’s Singles player in the world, ahead of fellow Bundesliga stars such as Groth (ITTF No. 44), BV Borussia Dortmund 09’s Kristian Karlsson (ITTF No. 41) and 1. FC Saarbrucken - TT’s Eduard Ionescu (Men’s Singles No. 43). He won Japan’s first Men’s Doubles title at the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in 60 years alongside TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen star Shunsuke Togami (No. 3).

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Shinozuka’s departure will leave Grünwettersbach without its top left-handed player and one of its most internationally successful young stars. This decision will create a massive hole in Grünwettersbach's roster, which also includes Tiago Apolonia (No. 12) and Tom Jarvis (No. 57) and Ricardo Walther (No. 58).

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That hole will need to be filled, either externally or from within, if Grünwettersbach hopes to remain competitive in the Bundesliga next season. That outcome won’t be guaranteed for Grünwettersbach, as the club currently faces relegation with a last-place 4:13 record and point differential of 8:26.

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“Hiroto has given our team important impulses in sports [sic]. We knew what potential it had,” Werner told ASC Grunwettersbach writer Sandra Werner. “The season was intense for everyone involved; it is all the more important now to gather new strength.”

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Grünwettersbach will play its next match on March 15 against Saarbrucken at 9 a.m. EST.