Goliaths in business, goats in table tennis: Buffett and Gates fall to 11-year-old girl from San Jose
By S.L. Wykes
Mercury News
Imagine: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, staring you down from across the table.
Intimidation factor – stratospheric.
Not for 11-year-old Ariel Hsing of San Jose. The sixth-grader at Evergreen Elementary School bested the both of them in table tennis Sunday, part of the festivities surrounding the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s finance company. That’s not to say they weren’t worthy foes.
Gates and Buffett were “actually pretty good,” Ariel said.
She ought to know, because she’d played the bigshots before. Months ago, Buffett, an avid ping-pong player, thought it would be fun if he invited Ariel – America’s No.1 under-16 female table-tennis player – to his 75th birthday party in San Francisco for a friendly match against him and Gates, the legendary founder and CEO of Microsoft.
…This little exhibition was part of a weekend event that also included a magician, a blindfolded chess champion and expert bridge players. Buffett is also a serious bridge buff.
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Who was the chess player?
These kids are beating us up bloody in chess. Good to see pin pong is no different.
The young inherit the games for sure. I remember trying to play a 10 year old on playstation. He played like a GM and I played like the newbie that I was. First and only time on Playstation. But his reflexes were so fast.
Ping Pong finds reflexes important so a 75 year old has no chance against an under 16 champion. But it must have been fun to watch.