CHRYSTALL Nicoll admitted she is not too worried about suffering a setback in her bid to qualify for the London Olympics.

The Wickford fencer finished 113th in the first of the four qualifying events for the games as she failed to get out of the pool stages.

It was a blow as the 26-year-old was hoping for a better result to earn valuable ranking points.

But now the Brentwood Fencing Club member is focussing on the next qualifying meeting in a fortnight’s time.

“It was not a particularly tough pool and I can’t blame it on one thing,” said Nicoll. “It was just a bad day at the office.

“There were a couple of refereeing decisions that went against me, but I did not fence my best and it was about not really making the right decisions.

“But some of the fights I only lost by a point and that makes all the difference.

“I did win one fight but you needed to win two to get through.”

Nicoll went to the two-day Trophee BNP Paribas Orleans GP in confident mood following some good performances at competitions in France and Germany. She has also been training regularly at the French Olympic team’s camp in Paris.

But the sabre fencer lost four of her five pool matches and failed to reach the knockout stages of the Grand Prix.

And Nicoll saw her leading British rival for London 2012, Louise Bond-Williams, finish 23rd.

But the Wickford fencer, who has taken a sabbatical from her job with Coca-Cola in order to train full time for her Olympics bid, was not too worried about Bond-Williams’ result.

Nicoll said there were still three qualifying events left for her to get ranking points.

She is currently 35th in the Federation Internationale D'Escrime (FIE) rankings with 42 points and Bond-Williams is 42nd with 36 points. The FIE is the sport’s governing body.

Nicoll is now focussing on the next qualifying event, the England Trophy, which is on February 24 and 25 at Crystal palace National Sports Centre.