'He was a joy': Reflecting on the sport's taken talent two decades on.

All the Leeds-born talent always wished to do was practice the game.

A love for the game, caught at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his family's living room table in the city of Leeds, would result in a life on the tour that saw him secure six significant titles in half a dozen years.

The present year marks 20 years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the passing of a phenomenal skill that rose above the pastime he cherished, his influence and memory on the game and those who were close to him remain as strong as ever.

'The game was his life': The Formative Years

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime our son would become a career sportsman," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"Yet he just adored it."

Hunter's father remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

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

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the jump from home play with great skill.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the Leeds district of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

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 mid-teens to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It was a resounding success. Within five years, their still-teenage son had won his initial major win, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the involvement of exclusively the best, Hunter won three times, in consecutive years.

'A Cheeky Charm': The Man Behind the Cue

But for all his achievements in competition, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never deserted him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"When encountering him you'd like him," Kristina states. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "wonderful, youthful, and fun personality" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his natural likability, handsome features and candid way with the press, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the new millennium.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while going through treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he succumbed in the mid-2000s, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in palaces and castles but in local sports centers across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide accessible training to young people all over the country.

The initiative was so successful that, according to reports, issues with young people in some areas dropped significantly.

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

The Foundation helped pave the way for a major coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Forever in Memory: A Lasting Presence

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

"I can access it and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's a comfort!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she adds. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

Although he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, starts later this month. The winner will lift the memorial cup.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is always remembered.