'He was a joy': Reflecting on the sport's lost great 20 years on.

All the young snooker player truly desired to do was play snooker.

A sporting bug, sparked at the tender age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his home's central table in the city of Leeds, would lead to a life on the tour that saw him secure six major trophies in six years.

Now marks a score of years since the adored Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But notwithstanding the loss of a once-in-a-generation player that rose above the game he loved, his enduring mark on the sport and those who were close to him endure as strong as ever.

'He just loved it': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a billion years Paul would become a professional snooker player," Hunter's mum recalls.

"Yet he just loved it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "wasn't bothered about anything else" besides snooker as a youth.

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

After persistently asking his dad to take him to a local club to play on full-size tables at the age of eight, the budding player made the leap from table top snooker with great skill.

His natural ability would be nurtured by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from nearby Bradford, at a now former establishment in the area of Yeadon.

Rapid Rise: A Star is Born

With his mother and father's requests 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 fourteen years old to fully focus on forging a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within a short period, their adolescent had won his initial major win, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's hardest tournaments to win because of the lineup featuring elite players only, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'A Gracious Competitor': The Man Behind the Cue

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

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

"When encountering him you'd enjoy his company," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you comfortable."

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

With his natural likability, handsome features and honest interview style, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new 21st Century.

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

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In 2005, a year that should have marked the height of his career, Hunter was told he had cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

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

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on 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 family-like circuit lost one of its cherished personalities.

"It is tragic," Kristina says. "No parent should experience any mum and dad to lose a child."

An Enduring Legacy: Inspiring Youth

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in community venues across the UK.

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

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

"The aim remained for a platform to help offer a constructive activity," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children internationally.

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

Forever in Memory: Two Decades On

Archive videos of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "in touch with his memory".

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

"We like to reminisce about Paul," she concludes. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody remember him than him not be mentioned at all."

While he never won the World Championship, the widespread belief that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's legend.

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

But for all his accomplishments, 20 years after his death it is Paul Hunter's personality, as much his spectacular skill with a cue, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.