Bodybuilder Yakub Bin Hassan has vowed to win Uganda more accolades at the international level.

This is after the Ugandan clinched a silver medal at the 36th edition of the Arnold Sports Festival, (Arnold Classics) that ended over the weekend in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.

The 2024 Arnold Classics rolled off last Thursday, February 29th at the Greater Columbus Convention Centre and closed on  Saturday

At the championship, Yakub alias ‘Mr. Ten Packs’, a Meilin Hotel sponsored muscleman was only beaten by Ukrainian Urs Kalecinski to finish second in the men’s Mr. Physique middleweight category.

“I’m grateful for this silver medal. It’s a milestone I had never dreamt of in my entire life. I have competed with the world’s best in bodybuilding meaning, it is a lifetime achievement so far in my career,” Yakub stated.

“But this is just a toast. My dream is to win more accolades on the international level.  I want to emulate Ivan Byekwaso who is so far Uganda’s bodybuilding GOAT (Greatest of All Times).”

By winning silver, Yakub pocketed $10,000 (sh37m) in prize money on top of winning himself a full-year training package at Planet Fitness Gym in Miami, Florida, USA.

“On top of the money and a silver medal I have won, the organisers have sponsored me with a one-year training package at one of the best gyms in the USA. It is a move intended to help me develop my career,” he said.

Yakub, a 2021 Mr. Physique middleweight champion at the Mr. Uganda bodybuilding championship and a gold medalist at the 2022 South Africa bodybuilding championship now joins a list of a few Uganda bodybuilders who have shone at the international level.

The standout is Yakub’s role model, Ivan Byekwaso who in 2015 won the NBA world's Mr. Natural Universe fitness crown before going on to win the AM bodybuilding World Cup.

Since 1989 the Arnold Classics have been hosted by former bodybuilder and legendary Hollywood movie actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and promoter Jim Lorimer.