http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=336368
 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Ariel Hsing is undefeated against billionaires.

She's traveled the world to hone her table tennis game, rode in style on a private jet to beat fans of hers such as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and played in Philadelphia this week to try and earn a spot in the North American Olympic Trials.

 

When she grows up, Hsing wants to attend Stanford and become an eye doctor.

When she grows up?

That's right, Ariel Hsing, the pint-sized pingpong prospect and Olympic hopeful, is only 12. Oh yeah, she's also the USA Table Tennis' top-ranked girl under 14.

"It's really cool," she giggled.

Hsing, a seventh-grader from San Jose, Calif., wowed the crowd Saturday at Drexel University by taking former Olympian Jasna Reed to a full seven sets before losing the last. The last time they played, Hsing said she was swept in four sets.

"That makes me feel pretty good," Hsing said.

Hsing's Olympic dream is on hold for now. Only the top four finishers in the men's and women's division move on to the North American Trials in April in Vancouver, British Columbia and Hsing had only one victory against women more than twice her age.

"I wanted to try and make the Olympics, but it's a good experience," she said.

While most of the table tennis players at the U.S. Olympic trials have played for more years than Hsing has been alive, they don't have to balance the demands of practice with homework. Or even finding time to watch "Hannah Montana." (Hey, Olympic trials or not, she is only 12).

Hsing started playing table tennis when she was almost 7 after her parents couldn't find a baby sitter and let her tag along to the Palo Alto Table Tennis club. Hsing was instantly hooked and her parents soon tried to find some of the best coaches to nurture her blossoming game.

"Oh, I wouldn't call her a prodigy," said her father, Michael Hsing. "I think maybe she tries harder than most other kids. That's it. I think almost every kid has a genius. Every kid can surprise you."

Hsing's father, a software engineer for IBM, was in her corner on Saturday. When she lost an early morning match, Michael Hsing greeted her with a smile, a high-five and a "good job."

Then she signed autographs for fans her age.

"She was at the junior worlds in Palo Alto and the players were twice her size," said Mike Cavanaugh, the interim executive director for USA table tennis. "She's going to be really good, not that she's not really good now."

Good enough to catch the eye of friends of Buffett, the billionaire investor and pingpong enthusiast. They saw Hsing play in a tournament and she somehow landed an invitation to play Buffett at his 75th birthday party. She beat him and his billionaire buddy Gates, too.

Hsing didn't even know who Buffett was at the time and, no, it wasn't a cash game.

Hsing was later invited to ride the private jet to a shareholders meeting in Nebraska and wiped out the big-bucks tag team once more.

"They were both really surprisingly good," she said.

Of course, with her impeccable manners, Hsing seemed much too polite to ever reveal if they were bad.

The competition was substantially harder -- and poorer -- this weekend at Drexel University. With the other matches over, Hsing and Reed had the attention of about 1,600 fans and they cheered Hsing on as she stretched the Olympic bronze medal winner to the limit.

Hsing wrote the message "Let Go" on her left arm, a reminder to release her fears and just play. She screams "Sa!" into her clenched fist before almost every serve, something she does to give her an added confidence boost.

"She does it more to annoy opponents, that's why I got distracted a little bit," Reed said. "You have to be focused and on a couple of points I was thinking about what's going on and a couple of points I was thinking about her screaming."

There were several reminders from officials during her matches to halt all flash photography because fans wanted a snapshot of the girl in the ponytail and assortment of colorful barrettes.

Not everyone was impressed.

"Her technique is really not for the world-level players," Reed said. "I'm not sure, you never know what might happen, but technique-wise, she has to correct a couple of things. Here and there she can beat people in the U.S. who are not serious table tennis players."

Soon, Hsing will resume life at Chaboya Middle School. Michael Hsing said her daughter was a straight-A student -- even with practice six days a week, three hours a day.

"It's kind of a bit too much, but it's something you have to do to be good," Michael Hsing said.