Sheffield snooker coach and former professional player Stephen Harrison is one of the names leading the push to bring the sport back into the Paralympic Games in the future.

Snooker was included at the inaugural Summer Paralympics of 1960 in Rome, and with the exception of 1980, featured in each of the summer games after that up until 1988.

Stephen’s father Ray Harrison was one of the names to win gold during that period, and in 1985 was also named Paraplegic Snooker Champion.

Snooker hasn’t featured in the Olympic games for nearly 40 years, but Stephen is optimistic about the sport’s chances of making a comeback on the world stage in the near future.

The snooker coach told The Star: “My driver is to try and get this sport back into the Paralympics. There’s been talks about winning it by 2032 for the one in Australia. It was last in the Paralympics in 1988 when a close friend of my dads Mick Langley, won gold.

“What we’ve got to do is keep growing it. Back in the 1980s, there was a very large cohort of the players, around 120-odd participants in each tournament. What we’ve got to do is get back to that, and the only way to do that is through grassroots kind of projects like what we’re doing here in Sheffield.”

Since 2007, the former professional player has run the Stephen Harrison Academy, which supports more than 250 weekly members - establishing itself as one of the leading centres for disability snooker in the UK.

He explained: “We work with all kinds of groups, whether it’s schools, colleges or community groups, all kinds of people visit the academy. So for example, we have a group that's aged eight to 18 and that's full of users who are physically disabled and also those with learning disabilities.

“I think it’s important we encourage people to pick up a cue and have a go at the sport. And what we've got to do is make that happen here in Sheffield and spread that good work across the UK, that's fantastic.”

Stephen is also running an event, known as the Cue10 Para World Snooker Championships, which will run alongside this year’s World Championship, which is set to be held in the Crucible until at least 2045 following this week’s popular announcement.

“We call it Q10, and we play it on a nine-foot sneaker table,” explained Stephen.

“It’s on a nine-by-four sneaker table, and it's just with 10 legs instead of the standard 15.The reason for the 10 legs is it's kind of not as congested with it being on a smaller table, and it's a faster-paced game. It's more fun, it's exciting to get the crowd behind it, and we're going to be doing it at the Canon Medical Arena.

“People are going to be coming from all around the world - Mexico, China, USA, India, and they're all flying in early April to get some practice. The idea for that is to showcase what we do as an academy in Sheffield, and to get people encouraged in the game.”

“It's free entry, so we're going to offer access to all the Sheffield schools, special schools, community colleges, and community groups. The audience is going to be full of people with disabilities. I think that's really important to bring that inclusivity.”