Spreadsheet champion heads for Las Vegas showdown

Ha Dang will represent the UK in the Microsoft Excel World Championship in December

A Scunthorpe man will represent the UK in the world spreadsheet championship in Las Vegas.

Ha Dang won the British title in London last week and will now head to the US in December to take part in the Microsoft Excel World Championship.

Mr Dang said the contestants were given data relating to a themed project, such as the King and Queens of England or pre-decimal money, and asked to manipulate the information to answer questions.

The former Lincoln Business School masters student, who works at a Leeds firm of stockbrokers, said: "I'm really looking forward to seeing all the international competitors that I've heard so much about, or had a chat with in our Excel group chats."

Making the victory in the UK event even more impressive was the fact that he only found out about the competition after watching a contest at a conference in February.

"I thought I can do that, I'll give it a try," he added. "I watched a lot of instructional videos on YouTube.

"They are really fun, well for me personally, and they help you improve your critical thinking skills, your Excel skills massively.

"I won (British title) by the skin of my teeth. It took me a minute when I saw the result to actually start moving again.

"I have never been so passionate about anything like this."

Ha Dang won a belt for becoming UK champion in September

Mr Dang came to the UK from Vietnam more than a decade ago to study in Lincoln and became a British citizen earlier this year.

After battling his way through a number of qualifying competitions, he lifted the winner's belt at the UK final, giving him the chance to represent the UK on the world stage.

He said he was "really excited" about it.

"It's going to be fun," he said.

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