Which of the following sentences is correct?

The correct answer is Option (4) → The coach told the players to abstain from eating fried snacks before the tournament.

“Abstain from” + -ing:

• “Abstain” means “to keep yourself away from something”. It is always followed by from.
• A verb after “from” takes the -ing form: from eating.

Why the Other Options are Incorrect?

Option 1: The coach told the players to abstain eating fried snacks before the tournament. — Incorrect. “Abstain” needs “from” before the thing we keep away from.

Option 2: The coach told the players to abstain to eat fried snacks before the tournament. — Incorrect. “Abstain” is not followed by “to” + verb. It takes “from” + an -ing word.

Option 3: The coach told the players to abstain from eat fried snacks before the tournament. — Incorrect. “From” is a preposition, so the verb after it must take the -ing form, “eating”.