Paul Hunter (snooker player)

Paul Alan Hunter ( October 14, Leeds, Huddersfield, 1978 - October 9, 2006) was an English Professional snooker player.

He was professional player in 1995 and won his first ranking tournament in 1998. Starting from 2002, he started to rise in the rankings and in 2003 , he reached the top 8 for the first time. In the season 2004/2005 he reached the fifth place. In his short career he won the Welsh Open twice and the British Openonce. Three times he managed to win the prestigious Masters tournament . He won the finals (best of 19 frames) against O'Brien, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan, each time with the smallest difference: 10 by 9 frames. In 2003 he reached the semifinal of the World Championships.

Partly because of his blonde hair, he was sometimes compared to David Beckham. This comparison came to Paul Hunter because extra also had a ' plan-B ' when he had a hefty backlog in a match: a romp with his fiancee in their hotel room, for the last session of the match. In the summer of 2004 he married with Lindsey Fell, during a ceremony at Jamaica. On 26 december 2005 the couple welcomed a daughter, Evie Rose.

Not long before the World Championship of 2005 became known that Hunter to a rare form of colon cancer suffered. This came as a big shock for the young Hunter; three years earlier he was once already operated for cysts on the testicle. He took, encouraged by the support of the players and audience, part in the Championship, but lost in the first round of his childhood friend Michael Holt, then treatment was started for his cancer.

Chemotherapyafter five series, he got in the St. James's Hospital in Leeds, Paul had a relapse at the end of 2005, but in February 2006 he got his last chemo. After his defeat at the 2006 World Cup against Neil Robertson gave Hunter to be in pain 24 hours a day. He would yet again be given chemotherapy so to counter the growth of the cancer. On 7 May 2006 took place in Leeds half marathon. Friends and family of Paul have taken part to raise money for research into some rare forms of cancer. Hunter died on 9 October of that year.