MIZUTANI Jun

Grip
Shakehand (ITTF, 02 Aug 2016)

Style of play
Attack (ITTF, 02 Aug 2016)

General
RETIREMENT PLAN
He plans to retire from the sport after competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "As the 2020 Games is like the culmination of my sporting career, I want to retire after that. I don't have a specific plan after my retirement. It is not like I want to quit the sport, but I'm curious to know whether it is fine to live only for table tennis. I would like to see what my life goal will be, apart from the sport. If I reach a conclusion that the sport would be the biggest motivation in life, there will be a possibility for me to return to the scene." (hochi.news, 15 Aug 2020)

EYE CONDITION
In March 2019 he announced that he had been struggling with an eye condition since January 2018. The condition is caused by reduced thickness of the cornea, which makes the ball more difficult to see among the lights of a table tennis arena. In April 2019 he began receiving Ocular Surface and External Integrated Remodeling Therapy [OSIERT] treatment, which uses special contact lenses to help reshape the corneas. "It does not interfere with my daily life. But I can not see the ball at all under certain conditions. In other words, the table tennis table is dark and only the table is lit with white light. And if you're surrounded by an electronic bulletin board, you can hardly see the ball. I'm improving little by little. At this hospital I've been receiving an OSIERT since April this year [2019]. Still, it's still hard to see at most match venues." (friday.kodansha.co.jp, 05 Oct 2019; nikkansports.com, 13 Dec 2019; rallys.online, 25 Mar 2019)

TIME ABROAD
Between 2003 and 2007 he trained in Dusseldorf, Germany. During this time he played table tennis for Borussia Munster, Germania Holthausen and Borussia Dusseldorf. In 2008 he moved to China and played in the China Table Tennis Super League for three seasons. Following the 2012 Olympic Games in London, he moved to the Russian Premier League and played for UMMC and then Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg, before returning to Japan in 2018 to play for Kinoshita Meister Tokyo. (butterfly.tt, 06 Mar 2012; excite.co.jp, 19 Mar 2016; nikkansports.com, 12 Aug 2016; world-tt.com, 04 Jan 2016; ettu.org, 29 Jun 2016; nikkansports.com, 22 Jun 2016; gazprom.com, 19 Jun 2018; go4t.jp, 09 Oct 2018; rallys.online, 28 Mar 2019)

ACTING
In 2017 he played a cameo role in the Japanese film 'Mix' alongside fellow Japanese table tennis player Kasumi Ishikawa. The film included a mixed doubles table tennis tournament as part of the plot. (ittf.com, 19 Aug 2017)

AUTHOR
He released books titled 'Table Tennis King Jun Mizutani's Rules of Victory' and 'Losers Spend Their Time on Training Ineffectively' in 2015 and 2016, respectively. (world-tt.com, 21 Jan 2015, 03 Mar 2016)

RIGHT TO LEFT
He originally played table tennis right-handed. However, his parents encouraged him to change to being left-handed, as they thought it would be more difficult for his opponents to play against him. (ninomiyasports.com, 09 Jul 2008)

He became the first table tennis player from Japan to win a medal in the singles event at the Olympic Games, following his bronze in men's singles at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. His bronze medal also made him the first male table tennis player from Japan to win a medal in any event at the Olympic Games. (hochi.news, 06 Jan 2020; tokyo-np.co.jp, 12 Aug 2016; SportsDeskOnline, 15 Jan 2020)