Japan's Kaori Sakamoto made a strong start to her women's singles title defense Wednesday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, leading the field with the highest-scoring short program of the season.The 22-year-old Beijing Winter Olympic bronze medalist scored 79.24 on the opening day of the championships at Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo and leads South Korea's Lee Hae In by 5.62 heading into Friday's free skate. Japan's Grand Prix Final winner, Mai Mihara, finished third with 73.46.Aiming to become the first Japanese woman to go back-to-back as world champion, Sakamoto received a…READ FULL ARTICLE