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Ariel Hsing

Ariel Yenhua Hsing (born November 29, 1995)[2] is an American table tennis player who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Hsing became the youngest U.S. table tennis national champion in history in 2010 at age 15. She repeated as champion in 2011 and 2013. She is the first player from North America to win the Intercontinental Cup[4] in 2012 with participants from Africa, Latin America, North America, and Oceania.

She was a bronze medalist in women's team and women's singles at the 2011 Pan American Games. Hsing was the women's singles champion at the North American Championships in the year 2013,[6] and at the North America Cup in the year 2011[8] and 2012.[7] During her junior career, she was ranked as high as 4th in the world in both the cadet (U-15)[9] and the junior (U-18)[10] age group.

In May 2014, she became the first American-born player in the China Table Tennis Super League, signing a contract with Zhejiang Jinhua Bank.[11]

Early life

Hsing was born in Fremont, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her mother, Xin Hua Jiang (Chinese: 姜新华; pinyin: Jiāng Xīnhuá),[12] was born in China, and grew up in Henan Province. Her father, Michael Hsing (Chinese: 邢冀北; pinyin: Xíng Jìběi),[13] is a computer engineer who was born in Taiwan.[14][15]

Hsing started playing table tennis when her parents could not find a babysitter one night and brought the then seven-year-old to the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club with them.[16] She joined the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club junior training program under the head coach Dennis Davis.

Ariel played her first table tennis tournament “2003 California Open” at age 7. She didn't quite know how to serve legally and was faulted more than ten times. She hung in there and won her first tournament.

At age eight and a few days old, Ariel won her first national title “Girls 10 and Under” at the 2003 U.S. Nationals at Las Vegas. She then successfully defended her title in 2004 and 2005. On a side note, Ariel's mom also won a trophy at the same tournament.

In July 2005, Ariel won all her matches at the 2005 Junior Olympics/Nationals held at New Orleans. She brought home six gold medals and a special “Joel Ferrell Sportsmanship Award,” which had her name engraved on a special plaque at the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) National Headquarter.

Career

In 2012, Hsing won the singles titles at the ITTF North American Cup and the United States Junior and Cadet Open.[17] She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics and was seeded 46th in women's singles.[18]

Hsing is acquaintances with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and used to refer to them as "Uncle Warren" and "Uncle Bill". She met Buffett at age 9 when one of Buffett's friends retained a table tennis coach for Buffett at his seventy-fifth birthday party and it was decided to have the 9-year-old Hsing play Buffett as a joke.[19][20] Since then, Ariel has been invited to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting to play table tennis with Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and the stockholders.[21] Gates was present during Hsing's Round of 32 loss during the 2012 Olympics and hugged her as she left the court.[22]

On July 9, 2012, she appeared on an episode of the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out. She stumped panelists Ciara Bravo, Alex Heartman, Leon Thomas III and Stephen Kramer Glickman, for one round.

2012 London Olympics

Ariel Hsing in London during the 2012 Olympics

Hsing entered the Olympics as the 46th seed [18] and ranked 115th in the world.[22]

In the round of 128 Hsing defeated Yadira Silva in 4 games (11-9, 11–8, 11–3, 11-5) in a match where she never trailed by more than 2 points. In the round of 64 Hsing defeated Ni Xia Lian of Luxembourg 4-2 (11-9, 10–12, 11–9, 11–5, 10–12, 12-10), In the round of 32 Hsing lost to the #2 seed and eventual gold medalist Li Xiaoxia of China 4-2 (11-4, 9-11, 11–6, 6-11, 11–8, 11-9) with the longest rally of 18 occurring in game 6.

After the loss Hsing said it was the best she had ever performed at a tournament giving herself a "10 out of 10, or maybe 9.9 as I wasn't quite there."[22]

Personal life

Hsing has been blogging for espnW for her Olympic journey.[23]

After the Olympics, Hsing was selected as the 2012 Female High School Athlete of the year by San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.[24]

Hsing graduated from Valley Christian High School in San Jose in 2013. She is a graduate of Princeton University[25] and was elected as Social Chair for the Class of 2017. Hsing speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese.[26]

She is featured in the documentary Top Spin directed by Mina T. Son and Sara Newens.

Ariel participated in Andy Akiho's Ping Pong Concerto, world premiered in Shanghai on July 18, 2015, at Shanghai Symphony Hall by Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.[27] Ping Pong Concerto has also performed in Beijing, Guangzhou, Foshan, and is scheduled to perform in London and Hong Kong.[28]

Ariel is a contributing author of "2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers and Changing the World" by Stacey Ferreira and Jared Kleinert, which became the #1 New Release in Business Leadership on Amazon.[29]

In 2016, with her independent study of "Chinese Stock Market Anomalies: An Empirical Analysis,” Ariel was selected by China Hands Magazine as the 25 under 25: Leaders in U.S.-China Relations, which "profiles 25 students and professionals under the age of 25 who have demonstrated exceptional promise in China studies and in furthering the future of the U.S.-China relationship."[30]

Competition records

[32]

References

Hsing playing at the 2007 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
  1. ^ "ITTF_Database – HSING Ariel Yenhua (USA)". Ittf.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ariel Hsing". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  3. ^ "ITTF world ranking". ITTF. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Runner Up in Singapore, Winner in Huangshi, Ariel Hsing Flies High". ITTF. Retrieved January 19, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b "XVI Pan-American Games Results Book" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 15, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Revenge is Sweet for Ariel Hsing; Top Seeds Capture North American Titles". ITTF. Retrieved January 19, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ a b "Graduation Day, Teenagers Capture ITTF-North American Cup Titles". ITTF. Retrieved January 17, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ a b "Ariel Hsing Secures ITTF-North America Cup Crown in Resounding Style". ITTF. Retrieved January 17, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "ITTF U-15 World Ranking". Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  10. ^ "ITTF U-18 World Ranking". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  11. ^ (in Chinese) 首位引进乒超的美国球员邢延华 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "专访邢延华母亲：父母眼里的"小美人鱼"". Sina. June 4, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  13. ^ "美籍华裔奥运会选手邢延华：走在梦想的道路上". People's Daily. July 13, 2012. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  14. ^ Wade, Stephen (July 28, 2012). "Hsing advances to second round". NBC Olympics. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  15. ^ Almond, Elliott (July 5, 2012). "The Bay Area's little-known table tennis mecca". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  16. ^ "Ariel Hsing". Archived from the original on June 21, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  17. ^ Marshall, Ian (July 5, 2012). "Ariel Hsing". ITTF. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  18. ^ a b "2012 Olympic Games: Women's Singles Seeding List" (PDF). International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  19. ^ Florek, Michael (July 3, 2012). "Ariel Hsing is table tennis prodigy with influential fans". USA Today. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  20. ^ "Warren Buffett's Olympic Discovery". The Wall Street Journal. May 3, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  21. ^ "Warren Buffett and Bill Gates try their hand at table tennis". Omaha World-Herald. May 4, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  22. ^ a b c Davis, Toby. "Gates flies in to hail "amazing" Hsing". NBC Olympics. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  23. ^ "Hsing hopes training will take her to Olympics". ESPN. February 9, 2012.
  24. ^ "Ariel Hsing to be Honored by San Jose Sports Authority as Female Athlete of the Year". vcs.net. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  25. ^ Rolston, Dorian "Bullwhip backhands: A national champion as a freshman, Hsing looks to another Olympic run" Princeton Alumni Weekly, February 5, 2014
  26. ^ Purdy, Mark (July 29, 2012). "Mark Purdy: San Jose's Ariel Hsing makes most of her Olympic moments at London Games". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  27. ^ "Shanghai Symphony Orchestra world premiered Ping Pong Concerto (RICOCHET) on Music in the Summer Air (MISA) Festival". Cami Music. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  28. ^ "Ping Pong Diplomacy - Hong Kong Philharmonic". HKPhil. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  29. ^ Kleinert, Jared; Ferreira, Stacey (July 28, 2015). 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers and Changing the World. ISBN 978-1250067616.
  30. ^ "2016 25 Under 25: Leaders in U.S.-China Relations". chinahandsmag. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  31. ^ "Table tennis triumphs at Nationals". dailyprincetonian.com. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  32. ^ "ARIEL'S MILESTONES". officialarielhsing.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2017.

External links