“Ariel Hsing was 11 when Warren Buffett first recruited her to play ping pong at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Ariel Hsing was 11 when Warren Buffett first recruited her to play ping pong at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Now she's America's top-ranked under-18 player and No. 2 overall. Jared Diamond reports on Lunch Break. Photo: AP. . Five years later, she exemplifies Buffett's gift for spotting winners. At 16, she is America's top-ranked under-18 player and No. 2 overall. Two weeks ago, she won a spot on the U.S. Olympic table-tennis team. At the Berkshire bash in Omaha this weekend, shareholders will have a chance to challenge her. Enlarge Image Close Associated Press Ariel Hsing returns a shot during an Olympic qualifying tournament. . "She's a killer," says Buffett, a ping-pong enthusiast who first met Hsing when she was 9. "I knew right away she had the potential to be great because she had this determination. There was no doubt in my mind she was going to put in the hours." For Ariel, in fact, making the Olympic team doesn't necessarily rank above becoming friends with Buffett and Gates. She says their influence has inspired her to switch career plans from medicine to business. "The luckiest moment of my life," she says, "was meeting Uncle Warren and Uncle Bill."”
