The 2008 Pan American Bowling Confederation Championship of the Champions kicked off Monday night with the opening ceremonies at Galaxy Bowling in San Salvador, El Salvador.

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"This is a proud moment for El Salvador," said PABCON President Jose Guandique (below, left) of El Salvador.

WTBA President Kevin Dornberger, United States, threw out the first ball (below, right).

The tournament begins with 16 games over two days in the singles event and then turns to eight games of mixed doubles action. The top eight in singles and top eight mixed doubles teams will then compete in Masters competition.

After each player has completed the 16 games in singles and eight games in mixed doubles, the combined total of 48 games is used to rank the countries to determine the top eight from the American Zone which will advance to the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei.