Nguyễn Thùy Linh has become a challenging rival for the legend PV Sindhu.

Having once claimed the world championship and the World Tour Finals title, PV Sindhu is now behind Nguyễn Thùy Linh in their direct encounters.

Though she has never reached the world number 1 ranking, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is undoubtedly one of the greatest female badminton players globally. At the peak of her career, PV Sindhu won one BWF World Tour Finals title and finished runner-up twice; she also secured the world championship, earned a silver and a bronze medal in the Olympic singles, and took a silver at the ASIAD games.

She is a tremendous source of pride for India and one of the wealthiest athletes in badminton and sports worldwide, having appeared six times on Forbes' list of highest-earning female athletes.

Throughout her career, Sindhu has defeated many top players such as Busanan Ongbamrungphan, Han Yue, Gregoria Tunjung, Li Xuerui, Akane Yamaguchi, and Nozomi Okuhara. However, against Nguyễn Thùy Linh — who is less renowned than these names — the former world number two often struggled and now trails in their head-to-head meetings.

With a courageous comeback victory in the first round of the 2026 India Open held on the afternoon of January 14th, Vietnam time,Thùy Linh now holds three wins out of five matches against Sindhu in their careers. She ranks among the 16 players with a positive head-to-head record against the 2019 world champion, according to Badminton Ranks statistics.

PV Sindhu’s biggest career nightmare is An Se-young, having lost all eight encounters against her. Additionally, Sindhu’s win rates are low against Tai Tzu-ying (5-19), Ratchanok Intanon (4-10), Carolina Marin (6-12), Gao Fangjie (1-4), and He Bingjiao (9-12), among others.

The spectacular victory over India’s sporting pride has propelled Thùy Linh into the second round of the 2026 India Open, where she will face the current world number two, Wang Zhiyi.