MADRID: Seventy-eight top-level Spanish athletes on Wednesday expressed their “firm and absolute rejection of the latest actions” of the Spanish anti-doping agency (CELAD), whose head was sacked last month following accusations of irregularities.

In a statement published on social networks, the sportsmen and women, including two-time world walking champions Alvaro Martín and Maria Perez, demanded “honesty and transparency” from the agency’s directors in the fight against doping.