'Paul was fun': Reflecting on the sport's lost great 20 years on.

All Paul Hunter always wished to do was play snooker.

A competitive passion, sparked at the very young age of three with the help of a small snooker set on his home's central table in Leeds, would result in a professional career that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

This year marks a score of years since the adored Hunter died from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the tragic departure of a phenomenal skill that rose above the game he loved, his enduring mark on the game and those who were close to him remain as powerful today.

'The game was his life': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime the boy would become a career sportsman," his mother states.

"But he just was passionate about it."

Alan Hunter recounts how his son "showed no interest in anything else" except for snooker as a young boy.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a nearby hall to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

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

Metoric Ascent: 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 half a decade, their young son had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed a trio of times, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's humble charm never faded.

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

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He brought joy. He'd make you feel at ease."

Hunter's wife Lindsey, with whom he had daughter Evie, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "typically the final guest at the party".

With his easy charm, youthful appearance and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his prodigious ability, Hunter quickly became snooker's poster boy for the modern era.

No wonder then, that he was dubbed 'A Sporting Icon'.

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In 2005, a year that should have marked the peak of his powers, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple stories from across the professional tour speak of the man's extraordinary commitment to keep promises to public appearances and promotional work, all while enduring treatment.

Despite difficult symptoms, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a rapturous applause at The World Championship arena when he competed in the World Championships that year.

When he died in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its most popular brothers.

"The pain is immense," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

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

The Paul Hunter Foundation, 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 plummeted.

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

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a significant coaching programme, which has extended playing opportunities to children globally.

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

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Historic matches of their son's matches online help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "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 highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's ultimate trophy is ingrained in the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, 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 character, as much his dazzling snooker ability, that will ensure he is never forgotten.