'He was a joy': Remembering the sport's lost great a score of years on.

All the Leeds-born talent ever wanted to do was play snooker.

A love for the game, developed at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would result in a pro playing days that saw him secure half a dozen major wins in a six-year span.

The present year marks 20 years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, just days before to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But in spite of the loss of a generational talent that went beyond the game he loved, his influence and memory on snooker and those who were close to him persist as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime the boy would become a professional snooker player," Kristina Hunter recalls.

"However he just was passionate about it."

His dad remembers how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" other than snooker as a child.

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

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a local club to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the jump from home play with remarkable ease.

His raw skill would be developed by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now former establishment in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: The Path to Glory

With his parents' pleas to do his homework regularly going unheeded as practice took priority, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the age of 14 to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It proved a masterstroke. Within five years, their still-teenage son had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the presence of elite players only, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in the early 2000s.

'Paul was fun': The Man Behind the Cue

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

"He was incredibly composed did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

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

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "funny, kind" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the modern era.

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

Courage in Crisis: His Final Years

In 2005, a year that should have signaled the height of his career, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo aggressive treatment.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world speak of the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, 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 succumbed in October 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its cherished personalities.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

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

The scheme was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas dropped significantly.

"The aim remained for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped establish the basis for a major coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: 20 Years Later

Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "close to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's marvellous!"

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she adds. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be spoken of."

While 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 legend.

The Masters, the competition with which he is forever linked, commences later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his achievements, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.