Sprinter Shinji Takahira won his second straight 200-meter title at the national championships Friday and secured a spot in this summer's track and field world championships. Takahira breezed to victory in 20.89 seconds at Tokyo's National Stadium in the absence of world bronze-medalist Shingo Suetsugu, who withdrew the previous day citing a knee injury. Takahira, a 20-year-old Juntendo University student, is now entitled to compete in the world championships to be held in Helsinki in August. In other action, Yuriko Kobayashi became the first high school runner in 18 years to win the women's 1,500 meters in 4:14.55.
