Soviets Won’t Compete in Meet

Seven of the Soviet Union’s top track and field athletes have withdrawn without explanation from the Bruce Jenner Grand Prix meet scheduled this weekend at San Jose City College, meet officials said Thursday.

The group--headed by hammer thrower Sergey Litvinova, middle distance runner Tananya Kazankina and discus thrower Galina Savinkova--had been expected to arrive on Monday. But meet promoter Bert Bonanno said he was told by The Athletics Congress that the Soviets aren’t coming.

“On May 13, they applied to the State Dept. for visas,” Bonanno said. “On May 28, they withdrew their request. We don’t know the reasons.”