'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the sport's lost great two decades on.

Everything the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was compete on the baize.

A love for the game, developed at the age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him claim half a dozen major wins in six years.

Now marks two decades since the popular Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that rose above the sport he adored, his enduring mark on the game and those who were close to him remain as vibrant now.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"We'd never have known in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," his mother states.

"But he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" besides snooker as a young boy.

"His dedication was constant," he adds. "He practiced every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from home play with aplomb.

His raw skill would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now defunct club in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his parents' pleas to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as practice took priority, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within half a decade, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the Welsh Open of 1998.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his triumphs in the sport, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never left him.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He got on with everybody."

"When encountering him you'd take to him," Kristina states. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "witty, generous" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

Facing Adversity: His Final Years

In that year, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple stories from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to fulfill commitments to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter continued to compete through the illness and received a standing ovation at The famous Sheffield venue when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true contribution would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to youths all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas fell sharply.

"The idea was for a scheme to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a senior official in the sport stated.

Always Remembered: 20 Years Later

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

"I can watch it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "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 secured snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's folklore.

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

But for all his achievements, a generation after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.