HIROSHIMA, Japan -- The Asian Games that would not die were finally ready for Sunday's opening, having survived threats of a Chinese boycott and a killer typhoon to bring together the biggest gathering ever of Asian athletes.


Dubbed "The Survivor Games" because of obstacles this city of survivors has overcome to stage Asia's biggest sporting event, it is intended to mark a turning point in how the world views Hiroshima, victim of the first atomic bomb.


As the final 48 hours' countdown started, skies cleared over the city after a nearby typhoon killed several people, and China not only announced that it would compete but also take part in Sunday's opening ceremony. They were both clouds that had hovered for weeks over Hiroshima's organizers.


Health issues also were posing problems. The head of medical services at the Games said he was in constant touch with doctors of the Indian contingent to see if anyone developed symptoms of the deadly plague which has claimed 50 lives in India since it broke out last week.


The World Health Organization said the outbreak was not likely to spread abroad and was expected to be over within three weeks. But on arrival in Hiroshima, India's athletes -- 300 in all -- are being given forms asking where they have lived in the past two weeks.


Also, game organizers vetoed a proposal to have condom dispensers in the athletes' village, although condoms have been available freely at recent major sports events as an anti-AIDS measure. Instead, officials decided on a "condom on demand" policy, requiring participants to pick them up from a large basket in the athletes' medical center. "We are talking about an Asian culture where the free distribution of condoms may be frowned upon," one official said. "But we have to be realistic when 7,000 mostly young people come together."


There were still challenges ahead -- leftists have vowed to disrupt Emperor Akihito's attendance at the opening ceremony and China is still incensed at the presence of a top Taiwanese official.


But a senior games official said: "Everything is now going smoothly. We are ready to go."


Before the games have even started, the event, with its theme of "Asian Harmony," has already set many records.


The biggest number of competitors (7,300) from the biggest number of countries (42) will be competing in the biggest number of sports (34) and for the first time it will all happen outside a capital city.


The 12th Asian Games -- the first was held in New Delhi in 1951 -- welcomes new countries like the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all determined to be regarded as parts of Asia.


New sports this year include baseball, soft tennis, modern pentathlon, and sepak takraw, a mixture of football and volleyball. By the time the Games end Oct. 16, China is almost certain to once again head the medals table as it has done since the 1982 event in New Delhi.


The biggest tussle is likely to be for second place -- between Japan with the biggest number of athletes competing, and northeast Asian rivals South Korea.