A midget has failed in his attempt to overturn a French ban on the strange yet satisfying sport of dwarf throwing. The compact stuntman first filed his papers back in 1999 to appeal against a 1995 ruling which outlawed throwing vertically-challenged members of the public around. The ban was imposed in the wake of an American and Australian craze which involved a dwarf donning a crash helmet and padded clothing to be thrown around a disco by bouncers and other big toughies.

But 3ft 10in Manuel Wackenheim wanted to partake in the pastime, but wasn’t legally allowed. The UN Human Rights Committee said the ban was to preserve human dignity, but Wackenheim said that it was a discriminatory law which prevented him from getting a job as a human projectile.

"The ban on dwarf-tossing was not abusive but necessary in order to protect public order, including considerations of human dignity," they explained.