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Canne de combat is a french style martial arts which uses a cane or canne during the fight. It is also known as La Canne or French stick fighting. The sport involves opponents facing one another inside a ring with a cane in one hand.

The cane, which is literally a walking-stick, is often made of chestnut wood and slightly tapered. For the sport, a padded suit and a fencing mask is worn for protection.

Each opponent must only use one hand on the cane but they can change it from hand to hand during the bout. Only horizontal or downward strikes are permitted, thrusting or stabbing is completely prohibited. To score points, opponents must strike the calves, torse of the head. At the end of a bout, the opponent with the most points win.

The sport is mostly played in France but variations of it can be found world wide. It was once a fighting technique taught in weapons schools primarily for self-defense. The sport is seeing a significant decline and defensive cane techniques are slowly disappearing.

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Similar Sports

• Stick-Fighting — a type of martial arts which uses a hand-held long slender wooden stick for fighting. Includes variations such as singlestick and canne de combat.
• Singlestick — a martial art that uses a wooden stick, which began as a way of training sailors in the use of swords.
• Fencing — competitors face each other and attempt to touch each other with the tip of a thin sword.
• Kendo — a form of Japanese martial art that originated from kenjutsu, using bamboo swords and armor.
• Arnis — the national martial art sport of the Philippines which emphasizes weapon-based fighting.

Related Pages

• La Canne, or French stick fighting, was a demonstration sport at the 1924 Olympics.
• A similar sport, Singlesticks, was once an Olympic event.
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports — a list of every sport from around the world.
• About sport in France