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Canne de Combat

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 found 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 their defensive cane techniques are slowly disappearing.

Interesting Fact: It is possible for an opponent to win a bout without making a single attack should their adversary accumulate one too many penalties.



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