New Delhi:
The first batch of Australian athletes for the Commonwealth Games arrived early Monday morning hoping to remain unaffected by the troubled build-up to the event.
Australia's lawn bowls team landed in the Indian capital in the wee hours Monday morning.
"Who'd have thought lawn bowls would lead Australia into battle?" said one of the team members.
They are well aware of the criticism that has engulfed the Games Village but the Aussies said they would not form an opinion before having a look at it themselves.
"We've heard reports but we'd like to see for ourselves.
We're going in without expectations and what we see is what we get," said another player.
"There's a fair bit of pressure, but we're pretty confident," she said.
Later on Monday, Australia's netball and gymnastics teams will also land here for the October 3 to 14 event.
So far, three Australian athletes have pulled out of the Games -- cyclist Travis Meyer, table tennis player Stephanie Sang and discus world champion Dani Samuels.