'Paul was fun': Remembering the game's lost great two decades on.

All Paul Hunter ever wanted to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in the city of Leeds, would culminate in a professional career that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

Now marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, just days before to his 28th birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a phenomenal skill that transcended the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who knew him persist as vibrant now.

'His passion was clear': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Kristina Hunter says.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the transition from table top snooker with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be nurtured by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: From Teenager to Champion

With his family's urging to do his homework regularly going unheeded as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully dedicate himself to carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within a short period, their young son had won his first ranking title, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's most difficult competitions to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed three times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never left him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a daughter, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was christened 'The Snooker World's Beckham'.

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have been the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour highlight the man's extraordinary willingness to fulfill commitments to charity matches, tournaments, and media duties, all while enduring treatment.

Despite harsh reactions, Hunter played on through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The Crucible Theatre when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its best-loved members.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to go through that pain."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in royal circles but in community venues across the UK.

The charity in his name, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to young people all over the country.

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, anti-social behavior in some areas fell sharply.

"The idea was for a platform to help get kids off the street," one coach said.

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a chairman in the sport stated.

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul anytime," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "Before it would be tears, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.